NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 
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This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.Climate change and crop choice in Zambia: A mathematical programming approach
Publication date: Available online 15 March 2017 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Ayala Wineman, Eric W. Crawford While climate change is widely regarded as a threat to food security in southern Africa, few studies attempt to link the impacts of climate change on agriculture with the specificities of smallholder livelihoods. This paper presents a set of farm household models in Zambia built in order to assess the impacts of climate change on rural households across different agro-ecological regions and household types. The models combine several techniques, including linear programming of fa...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - March 14, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
“Women’s empowerment through seed improvement and seed governance: Evidence from participatory barley breeding in pre-war Syria”
Publication date: Available online 8 February 2017 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Alessandra Galiè, Janice Jiggins, Paul C. Struik, Stefania Grando, Salvatore Ceccarelli Approaches to food security primarily focus on technological solutions, seeking to produce more food, preferably with fewer resources. It has been argued that access to food involves issues of resource distribution and social marginalization. Governance is seen as one of the keys to redressing the institutional inequity that affects resource distribution. Rural women’s empowerment is seen as a means to reduce social ...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - February 8, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
New generation of knowledge: Towards an inter- and transdisciplinary framework for sustainable pathways of palm oil production
We present six ideas on how to do so. Given the controversy in debates on the production and expansion of palm oil, we consider switchers as critical actors for shaping sustainable pathways, both in the palm oil sector and at the science-policy interface. (Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences)
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - January 20, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Shifting environments in Eastern Guinea-Bissau, West Africa: The length of fallows in question
Publication date: Available online 4 January 2017 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Marina Padrão Temudo, Pedro Santos In the understanding of the relationship between forests, agriculture and landscape change, the impact of shifting cultivation has been a major topic, but also a major point of debate. The very definition of the concept is under discussion, starting with the importance given to the length of the fallow period and ending with the question of defining it as a system, many systems or a “tool kit”. Can we consider the length of the fallow period or the crop-fallow time ratio...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - January 3, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Post-harvest handling practices and associated food losses and limitations in the sweetpotato value chain of southern Ethiopia
In this study, mapping of sweetpotato VC not only quantifies the degree of losses but establish links between distinct VC constraints and respective food losses and limitations. Harvest and handling at farm level and shelf life issues at distribution were identified as vulnerable hot-spots of the sweetpotato food losses. Apart from physical and biological factors, demand and supply mismatch during the main harvest season at the wet markets leads to food (up to 25%) and economic losses (33–75%) followed by deficiencies in the lean season. A multi-stakeholder cooperation is required to mitigate food losses, which can have ...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - January 1, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Price risk perceptions and management strategies in selected European food supply chains: An exploratory approach
This study goes beyond the farm stage and explores through interviews the price risk perceptions and management strategies in multiple stages of the food supply chain. Respondents were farmers, wholesalers, processors, and retailers in six European food supply chains. Results show that price risk management strategies in EU food chains are diverse and well beyond traditional instruments such as futures and forward contracts. We further find that deviations of prices by more than 10–15% from expected levels were perceived as price volatility by a majority of the chain actors. This study provides new insights on price risk...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - December 12, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Farmers ’ use of fundamental knowledge to re-design their cropping systems: situated contextualisation processes
Publication date: Available online 3 December 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Quentin Toffolini, Marie-Hélène Jeuffroy, Pierre Mischler, Jérôme Pernel, Lorène Prost When they re-design their cropping systems to move towards agroecology, farmers implement practices that involve biological processes. Such practices have been qualified as knowledge-intensive, as they involve the renewal of agronomic principles and numerous interactions between the systems’ components and their regulation. Several studies recognize the value of discussing knowledge on systems’ functioning and c...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - December 3, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Cropping systems in the Vu Gia Thu Bon river basin, Central Vietnam: On farmers ’ stubborn persistence in predominantly cultivating rice
This study examined the reasons for such persistence, by surveying and analyzing a comprehensive set of qualitative (planting and harvesting dates) and quantitative data (yields, labor and non-labor inputs, prices) for all the crops present in the cropping systems of 116 farms in the region. The net benefit derived from rice production was on average 23M VND ha−1, with a relatively low labor input of 144 man-day per ha−1. The net benefits generated by vegetable production are more than 9 times higher (ca. 208M VND ha−1) with a labor demand of ca. 928 man-day ha−1. Despite the very high net benefits of vegetable pro...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - November 29, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Tailoring slaughter weight of indigenous Vietnamese Ban pigs for the requirements of urban high-end niche markets
In conclusion, increasingly formalized value chains for traditional pork products could provide the potential to not only contribute to rural development in the Southeast Asian Massif, but also to the conservation of animal genetic resources of a highly valuable eco-cultural region. (Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences)
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - November 23, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Hierarchical determinants of winter wheat abandonment in the North China Plain: A case study of Xingzhuangzi village in Hebei Province
Publication date: Available online 23 November 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Xue Wang, Xiubin Li, Minghong Tan, Liangjie Xin, Renjing Wang, Shengfa Li Since the late 1990s, the North China Plain (NCP) has undergone large-scale shrinkage of area sown to winter wheat, accompanying with traditional double cropping system being replaced by spring corns. However, studies on the underlying determinants are rarely found. The goal of this paper is to detect the hierarchical determinants on farmers’ cropping system decisions. A case study was carried out in Xingzhuangzi village of Hebei...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - November 23, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Cropping systems in the Vu Ghia Thu Bon river basin, Central Vietnam: On farmers ’ stubborn persistence in predominantly cultivating rice
This study examined the reasons for such persistence, by surveying and analyzing a comprehensive set of qualitative (planting and harvesting dates) and quantitative data (yields, labor and non-labor inputs, prices) for all the crops present in the cropping systems of 116 farms in the region. The net benefit derived from rice production was on average 23M VND ha−1, with a relatively low labor input of 144 man-day per ha−1. The net benefits generated by vegetable production are more than 9 times higher (ca. 208M VND ha−1) with a labor demand of ca. 928 man-day ha−1. Despite the very high net benefits of vegetable pro...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - November 16, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Impact of agricultural extension service on adoption of chemical fertilizer: Implications for rice productivity and development in Ghana
Publication date: Available online 7 October 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Donkor Emmanuel, Enoch Owusu-Sekyere, Victor Owusu, Henry Jordaan Given the increasing tension between food production and food demand in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the poor development of the rice sector in Africa, the present paper examines the impact of agricultural extension on adoption of chemical fertilizers and their impact on rice productivity in Ghana. A parametric approach was employed to account for selectivity and endogeneity effects, which most impact studies fail to address. The empirical r...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - October 9, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Mismatch between a science-based decision tool and its use: The case of the balance-sheet method for nitrogen fertilization in France
Publication date: Available online 7 October 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Clémence Ravier, Marie-Hélène Jeuffroy, Jean-Marc Meynard For several decades in France, the balance-sheet method has been recommended and widely used to calculate N fertilizer rates. However, despite the scientific consensus on this method and its adoption as a regulatory tool, high N losses are still frequently occurring, suggesting limits in the implementation of this method. We assumed this consensus might hide discrepancies between some scientific concepts and the ways farmers use methods and tools. W...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - October 9, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
What does care farming provide for clients? The views of care farm staff
Publication date: Available online 30 September 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Ann Hemingway, Caroline Ellis-Hill, Elizabeth Norton Care farming in the UK can help the agricultural community to remain viable and facilitate public interaction with the natural environment. It can also be therapeutic because it can address a range of public health and service provision issues by engaging people in farming activities and improving their health, social and educational circumstances. This paper presents the findings from a UK qualitative study exploring what care farming staff feel are the...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - September 30, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Is there hope for sustainable management of golden apple snails, a major invasive pest in irrigated rice?
Publication date: Available online 9 August 2016 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences Author(s): Janina Schneiker, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Josef Settele, Van Sinh Nguyen, Jesus Victor Bustamante, Leonardo Marquez, Sylvia Villareal, Gertrudo Arida, Ho Van Chien, Kong Luen Heong, Manfred Türke The golden apple snail or GAS (Pomacea canaliculata) is an important invasive pest in irrigated rice that feeds on young rice plants. In many countries in SE-Asia, governments have recently decreased their support of training courses for snail management, because farmers are now considered to know how to effecti...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - August 17, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
