To guide soil fertility investment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, better understanding is needed of the relative importance of soil and crop management factors in determining smallholder crop yields and yield variability. Spatial variability in crop yields within farms is strongly influenced by variation in both current crop management (e.g. planting dates, fertilizer rates) and soil fertili...

Current climate variability is already imposing significant challenge to Ethiopia. Therefore, farmers have faced income variability in almost every production season. Problems associated with dependence on rain fed agriculture are common in Ethiopia. Smallholder farmers’ vulnerability from such income variability is also common. Over the years, a range of risk management strategies have been us...

BACKGROUND Livestock rearing is one of the oldest and most important types of smallholder farming worldwide. The sustainability of livestock production depends on the efficient utilization of locally available resources. Some traditional methods of raising livestock may offer valuable lessons in this regard. This study documented and evaluated local knowledge of wild forage plants in the Dulong...

The scientific community has recognized the importance of integrating farmer's perceptions and knowledge (FPK) for the development of sustainable pest and disease management strategies. However, the knowledge gap between indigenous and scientific knowledge still contributes to misidentification of plant health constraints and poor adoption of management solutions. This is particularly the case ...

Infectious and zoonotic disease outbreaks have been linked to increasing volumes of legal and illegal trade. Spatio-temporal and trade network analyses have been used to evaluate the risks associated with these challenges elsewhere, but few details are available for the pig sector in South Africa. Regarding pig diseases, Limpopo province is important as the greater part of the province falls wi...

This paper reviews constraints to crop production, the status of technology development and future research needs of the smallholder farms in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe. ZIMBABWE'S agricultural industry consists of two major sectors; the large-scale commercial and the smallholder (communal) sectors. Prior to 1980 production from the communal sector was largely for subsistence requirements....

Insect-resistant cotton was first introduced commercially in 1996. It is commonly referred to as Bt cotton, because it produces an insecticidal protein from the naturally occurring soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Global adoption of Bt cotton has risen dramatically from 800,000 hectares in its year of introduction in 1996 to 5.7 million hectares (alone and stacked with herbicide-tole...

This article analyzes effects of insect-resistant Bt cotton on pesticide use and agricultural productivity in Argentina. Based on farm survey data, it is shown that the technology reduces application rates of toxic chemicals by 50 per cent, while significantly increasing yields. Using a damage control framework, the effectiveness of Bt versus chemical pesticides is estimated, and technological ...

In recent decades, significant international assistance has been provided to assist the establishment of market information systems (MISs) in a range of developing countries, including many in Africa. However, experience with state-run MISs, looking to provide current price information to market participants, has not been encouraging. Volatile horticultural markets provide particular challenges...