Ensuring stable crop yields in an era where climate change threatens traditional agricultural practices through altered rainfall patterns and increased urban consumption has become a vital concern in global food security. Projected freshwater availability for irrigation indicates that between 20 and 60 Mha of irrigated cropland may have to be reverted to rainfed management [57]. Formerly irriga...

Animals can be important in nutrient cycling in particular ecosystems, but few studies have examined how this importance varies along environmental gradients. In this study we quantified the nutrient cycling role of an abundant detritivorous fish species, the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), in reservoir ecosystems along a gradient of ecosystem productivity. Gizzard shad feed mostly on sedim...

Scenario analysis of the future is an important tool for supporting sustainability-oriented regional planning. To assist regional planning in two federal states in semi-arid North-eastern Brazil, Cear a and Piauı́, we developed integrated qualitative–quantitative scenarios that show potential developments of the agricultural and water resources situation as well as the internal migration until t...

Indonesia has been recognized as a country with significant potential in agriculture, not only to be self-sufficient in terms of food, but also to be the “food basket” for the world. However, given limited and competing use of resources, raising agricultural productivity is of paramount importance. To date, most of the existing work on Indonesia’s agricultural sector is at the national level. C...

Quantifying the influence of driving factors on irrigation water productivity (IWP) is vital for efficient agricultural water use. This study analyzed contributions of agronomic practice and climatic factors to the changes of IWP, based on the data from 1981 to 2012 in Hexi Corridor, Northwest China. Cobb-Douglas production functions were developed by the partial least squares method and contri...

Water quality in the United States is threatened by contamination with nutrients, primarily nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Animal manure can be a valuable resource for farmers, providing nutrients, improving soil structure, and increasing vegetative cover to reduce erosion potential. At the same time, application of manure nutrients in excess of crop requirements can result in environmental c...

Intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) in trees is an indication of the ratio of carbon assimilation to the rate of transpiration. It is generally assumed that it is a response to water availability. In agricultural research, the question of drought tolerance by increased WUEi has been well studied. In general, the increase is a trade-off for productivity and is therefore not desired. For forest...

FOR MOST COUNTRIES, HIGH PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR HAS BEEN A KEY DRIVER of structural transformation promoting long-term economic growth. Historically, low agricultural productivity growth has hindered economic growth and employment creation in the Philippines, where agriculture—which accounts for one-third of employment—remains a key sector. Climate change has the potenti...

Water management and utilization is an ongoing problem in developing countries with semi-arid to arid climates such as Afghanistan. The lack of effective irrigation systems are oftentimes the most limiting factor for maximizing agricultural productivity in these countries. In Afghanistan, the most widely used irrigation methods are basin/border for cereal crops and furrow for vegetables and gra...

nowadays, agricultural r&d provides new and developed technologies to create modern agricultural producing methods. during recent years, improving agricultural productivity is affected by not only domestic r&d investments but also foreign countries r&d investments. nowadays, according to new growth models, r&d is the base of productivity. recent economic theories consider agricu...