INTRODUCTION: SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Cultivating Sustainable livelihoods: Socioeconomic Impacts of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa

Southern Africa has high levels of food insecurity with stunting levels of more than 20% in several countries. Many countries in the region are net importers of staple food. This is partly due to low staple crop yields, with the average maize yield for the region, excluding South Africa, being around one tonne per hectare (see figure below). More than 70% of the population, and the vast majorit...

Sustainable Farming Systems vs Conventional Agriculture: A Socioeconomic Approach

Athanasios Theocharopoulos1, Stamatis Aggelopoulos1, Panoraia Papanagiotou2, Katerina Melfou3 and Evangelos Papanagiotou2 1Department of Agricultural Development and Agribusiness Management, Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki 2Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 3Department of Agricultural Products Marketin...

Conservation of natural resources for sustainable Agriculture Introduction

Agrometeorology and sustainable agriculture

Current concerns with the sustainability of agroecosystems in different parts of the world have hightened the awareness for careful use of the natural resource base on which agriculture depends. For proper and efficient use of soils and plant/animal genetic material, knowledge of the role of climate is an essential precondition. Several elements of the chapters in Agenda 21, a global plan of ac...

Paraquat and sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture is essential for man's survival, especially given our rapidly increasing population. Expansion of agriculture into remaining areas of natural vegetation is undesirable, as this would reduce biodiversity on the planet. Maintaining or indeed improving crop yields on existing farmed land, whether on a smallholder scale or on larger farms, is thus necessary. One of the limit...