Objectives: To describe the development of NCMS in the past decade including three sections and to bring up relevant policy implications. Methods: Based on secondary data and literature review, the evolution and achievement of NCMS in the past decade and the expected future challenges were analyzed. Results: Impressive advances have been seen in establishing the largest medical insurance system...

More and more information system applications have been adopted in China. Telecom operators in China are applying information services and solutions to more and more sectors and areas, of which the rural area is a typical example. Firstly, the paper describes the architecture of the mobile information system which is based on telecommunication terminals and is realized through text messaging, v...

The farming community, in many parts of Australia is widely dispersed and is heavily dependant upon communication both within the community and outside. Following Department of Primary Industry initiatives, at both State and Federal level, to move to provide information to farmers via the Web rather than via a cadre of Extension officers, the expected increased penetration of the rural sector b...

Amenity migration to attractive and accessible non-metropolitan areas changes social and environmental relations with consequences for natural resource management and landscape composition and trajectories. Lifestyler oriented rural landholders are often cast as a problem for land management and extension. Managers and some researchers see them as a cause of landscape and social fragmentation a...

Land in rural China has been under a separate and closed management system for decades even after the urban land reform that started in the late 1980s. The blurred property rights over rural land have been hindering the rural welfare as surplus rural land in sub-urban areas cannot be circulated into more economic use without first being requisitioned by the state. This traditional conversion pr...

Interstate highways are a permanent and increasingly important feature of America’s rural landscape. Their impact on agriculture and rural living, which is already felt, w ill be greatly intensified in the next few years. Consider some of the overall dimensions of this new highway system. Of the 41,000 miles authorized, more than 35,000 miles are classed as rural. ( 1 ) * One-third of all count...

Agricultural nutrients play a critical role in food production and human nutrition in China. Against this backdrop, agricultural extension services are essential for providing farmers with knowledge and information about nutrient management. By using a propensity score-matching (PSM) approach, this study examines the impact of agricultural extension on farmer nutrient management behavior. Surve...

Does poverty lead to stress? Despite numerous studies showing correlations between socioeconomic status and levels of the stress hormone cortisol, it remains unknown whether this relationship is causal. We used random weather shocks in Kenya to address this question. Our identi cation strategy exploits the fact that rainfall is an important input for farmers, but not for non-farmers such as urb...

Banana is a key staple and cash crop in east and central Africa. However, the recent outbreak of Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) has threatened farmers whose livelihoods depend on the crop. Since 2002, stakeholders embarked on campaigns to sensitize farmers on the disease and its management. This study evaluated the effectiveness of these efforts by examining farmers’ awareness of the disease, co...

introduction food security over the past decade was one of the main objectives of rural development policies in many countries. agricultural policies such as productive improvement, conservation and utilization of water and land resources are being considered in the heart of development projects. among these initiatives to achieve improved quality of infrastructure, environment and welfare is t...