The polarimetric behaviour of rice fields at different phenological stages has been analysed by using time series of TerraSAR-X images. These are X-band copolar dual-pol images available for the whole growth cycle. As plants grow, changes in their morphology produce clear signatures in various polarimetric observables. Based on this sensitivity to phenology, a physically based retrieval approac...

Rice, being a major staple crop in South Asia carries its importance in ensuring food security of the region, including in India and Bangladesh. Both the countries have agriculture-based economies where more than 50 percent of the active working population is engaged in agricultural activities. As per UN data, agriculture contributed 17.1 and 18.3 percent, in 2011, in the gross domestic product...

(eds M.C.S. Wopereis et al.) 95 as the Togo Hills – African rice continues to be present, and is locally important (Barry et al., 2007; Nuijten et al., 2009; Okry, 2011, Teeken et al. 2011; Temudo, 2011). In these older, established areas of rice cultivation, wild rice is sometimes still gathered locally (Richards, 1986; Nuijten, 2005). It is often assumed that in traditional agriculture crops ...

Innovation platforms are established to facilitate open communication and collaboration among various actors usually within a value chain to promote collective resource management. The concept of innovation platform as a strategy of entry point for operationalization, validation and dissemination of agricultural technology have received much attention in recent times among researchers in Ghana....

This study was carried out to identify agroeconomic factors on adoption integrated rice-fish farming by farmers. A survey was conducted using a stratified random sampling to collect data from farmers of selected villages in Guilan province, north of Iran. The questionnaire validity and reliability ware also determined to enhance the dependability of the result. Data were collected from 184 resp...

Among the agricultural crops, rice has had the largest share in pesticide use. Most of the croplosses are caused by the attack of Chilo suppressalis. The purpose of this study was toexamine effective factors on adoption of biological control by farmers in Talesh region ofIran. A survey study was conducted using a stratified random sampling to collect data fromfarmers in the selected rural areas...

In the Andapa region of northeast Madagascar, smallholders cultivating swidden hill rice (tavy) for subsistence are pressing against neighboring nature reserves. A dominant policy approach to reducing this pressure requires that smallholders abandon tavy and purchase rice from proceeds obtained from their environmentally sustainable commercial crops, vanilla and coffee. Economic liberalization ...

Major changes have been occurring almost unnoticed in staple value chains in Asia. The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains documents and explains the transformation of value chains moving rice and potatoes between the farm gate and the consumer in Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, and India. The changes noted are the rapid rise of supermarkets, modern cold storage facilities,...

We assessed the interplay of artificial and natural selection in rice adaptation in low-input farming systems in West Africa. Using 20 morphological traits and 176 molecular markers, 182 farmer varieties of rice (Oryza spp.) from 6 West African countries were characterized. Principal component analysis showed that the four botanical groups (Oryza sativa ssp. indica, O. sativa ssp. japonica, O. ...