Download or read book Agile Data Oriented Research Tools to Support Smallholder Farm System Transformation written by James Hammond and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-05-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smallholder farming systems contribute a substantial quantity of the food consumed in many lower and middle-income countries and contribute to the national and local economies. Despite the importance of smallholder farming, a transformation is needed in order to deliver food security and decent incomes for the farmers themselves and at the national level. This transformation must also be sustainable in terms of environmental impacts and social equity in order to be successful in the long term. The pressures of population growth, climate change, and land fragmentation compound the problem. Addressing these overlapping issues is a big challenge. One obstacle is the lack of good quality granular data linking these issues together. Household surveys are the workhorse method for gathering such data, but there are well-known problems that prevent household survey data from building up a “big picture” and delivering insights beyond the geographical boundary of each individual study. Such obstacles include the lack of access to datasets, differences in survey design, and respondent biases. Agile, data-oriented research tools can help to overcome these challenges. We use the term “agile” to imply methods that do not attempt exhaustive measurements, which are designed to be easy to use, and which entail some degree of flexibility in terms of adaptation to local conditions and integration with other tools or methods. Often these methods also nudge the behavior of tool users towards best practices. In recent years various research tools and approaches have been published which fit within our definition of “agile data-oriented research tools”. The domains these tools function in include monitoring and evaluation, intervention targeting, tailored information delivery, citizen science, credit scoring, and user feedback collection; all with the over-arching aim to improve data quality and access for those studying the sustainable development of smallholder farming systems. The goal of this Research Topic is to better define that niche, the ecosystem of tools and current practices, and to explore how such approaches can provide the underpinning knowledge required for the transformation of smallholder farming systems. One example of an agile data-oriented research tool is the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS). It is a modular, digital system for building household surveys addressing the common topics in smallholder development. It was purposefully designed to give a broad overview of the farm system whist keeping survey duration to a minimum, to be user-friendly in implementation, and to be sufficiently flexible to function in a broad variety of locations and projects. Since 2015 it has been used by 30 organizations in 32 countries to interview over 34,000 households. The tool and database are open access and a community of practice is developing around the tool. We particularly welcome contributions that engage with the RHoMIS tool and data. However, we also describe the tool in order to provide an example of what is meant by an agile data-oriented research tool, and welcome contributions focusing on other tools or methodologies. We encourage the submission of manuscripts addressing the above topic, and those which fit within one of the following three sub-themes: (i) Perspectives or review articles which explore the niche, best practices, or promising approaches in agile data-oriented research tools for smallholder farm system transformation. Also, technology and code articles that describe new tools are welcomed. (ii) Original research articles presenting analyses based on data derived from agile data-oriented tools used at the project level. Examples include impact evaluations, adoption studies, targeting studies, or adaptive management, and should reflect on the additional benefit leveraged by the agile method applied. (iii) Original research articles that make use of the large amounts of data generated by such agile methods and/or link between agile data and other data sources. Examples include meta-analyses of data from multiple studies, layering data collected from different agile tools, or linking agile data to remote sensing or large-scale modeling outputs.
Download or read book The Immaculate Conception of Data written by Kelly Bronson and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-08-15 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every new tractor now contains built-in sensors that collect data and stream it to cloud-based infrastructure. Seed and chemical companies are using these data, and these agribusinesses are a form of big tech alongside firms like Google and Facebook. The Immaculate Conception of Data peeks behind the secretive legal agreements surrounding agricultural big data to trace how it is used and with what consequences. Agribusinesses are among the oldest oligopoly corporations in the world, and their concentration gives them an advantage over other food system actors. Kelly Bronson explores what happens when big data get caught up in pre-existing arrangements of power. Her richly ethnographic account details the work of corporate scientists, farmers using the data, and activist “hackers” building open-source data platforms. Actors working in private and public contexts have divergent views on whom new technology is for, how it should be developed, and what kinds of agriculture it should support. Surprisingly, despite their differences, these groups share a way of speaking about data and its value for the future. Bronson calls this the immaculate conception of data, arguing that this phenomenon is a dangerous framework for imagining big data and what it might do for society. Drawing our attention to agriculture as an important new site for big tech criticism, The Immaculate Conception of Data uniquely bridges science and technology studies, critical data studies, and food studies, bringing to light salient issues related to data justice and a sustainable food system.
Download or read book From subsistence to profit written by Fan, Shenggen and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2013-07-25 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This food policy report presents a typology of the diverse livelihood strategies and development pathways for smallholder farmers in developing countries, and offers policy recommendations to help potentially profitable smallholders meet emerging risks and challenges. Main Findings Smallholder farmers in developing countries play a key role in meeting the future food demands of a growing and increasingly rich and urbanized population. However, smallholders are not a homogeneous group that should be supported at all costs. Whereas some smallholder farmers have the potential to undertake profitable commercial activities in the agricultural sector, others should be supported in exiting agriculture and seeking nonfarm employment opportunities. For smallholder farmers with profit potential, their ability to be successful is hampered by such challenges as climate change, price shocks, limited financing options, and inadequate access to healthy and nutritious food. By overcoming these challenges, smallholders can move from subsistence to commercially oriented agricultural systems, increase their profits, and operate at an efficient scalethereby helping to do their part in feeding the worlds hungry.
Download or read book The Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems written by Mike Robinson and published by Burleigh Dodds Agricultural Sc. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reviews recent research on effective support to improve smallholder livelihoods. After discussing the economics of smallholder farming, the book looks at access to key inputs before assessing ways of improving extension and other services to support sustainable production practices.
Download or read book Agricultural Innovation Systems written by The World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 685 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Managing the ability of agriculture to meet rising global demand and to respond to the changes and opportunities will require good policy, sustained investments, and innovation - not business as usual. Investments in public Research and Development, extension, education, and their links with one another have elicited high returns and pro-poor growth, but these investments alone will not elicit innovation at the pace or on the scale required by the intensifying and proliferating challenges confronting agriculture. Experience indicates that aside from a strong capacity in Research and Development, the ability to innovate is often related to collective action, coordination, the exchange of knowledge among diverse actors, the incentives and resources available to form partnerships and develop businesses, and conditions that make it possible for farmers or entrepreneurs to use the innovations. While consensus is developing about what is meant by 'innovation' and 'innovation system', no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at a given time, in a given place, for a given result. The AIS approach that looks at these multiple conditions and relationships that promote innovation in agriculture, has however moved from a concept to a sub-discipline with principles of analysis and action. AIS investments must be specific to the context, responding to the stage of development in a particular country and agricultural sector, especially the AIS. This sourcebook contributes to identifying, designing, and implementing the investments, approaches, and complementary interventions that appear most likely to strengthen AIS and to promote agricultural innovation and equitable growth. It emphasizes the lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and prospects for replicating or expanding successful practices. The information in this sourcebook derives from approaches that have been tested at different scales in different contexts. It reflects the experiences and evolving understanding of numerous individuals and organizations concerned with agricultural innovation, including the World Bank. This information is targeted to the key operational staff in international and regional development agencies and national governments who design and implement lending projects and to the practitioners who design thematic programs and technical assistance packages. The sourcebook can also be an important resource for the research community and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Download or read book Enhancing Agricultural Innovation written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-11-03 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An innovation system can be defined as a network of organizations, enterprises, and individuals demanding and supplying knowledge and bringing it into a social and economic use. This book's primary aim, therefore, is to focus on the largely unexplored operational aspects of the innvoation systems concept and to explore its potential for agriculture. 'Enhancing Agricultural Innovation' evaluates real-world innovation systems and assesses the usefulness of the concept in guiding investments to support knowledge-intensive, sustainable agricultural development. A typology of innovation systems is developed; strategies to guide investments for strengthening innovation capacity are drawn up; and concrete interventions options defined. In its conclusions, the book emphasizes the importance of mechanisms for collaboration and interaction. Intermediary organizations, innovation councils, farmer organizations, and other means to strengthen collaboration are central to creating the exchange of knowledge and perspectives that will convert knowledge into valuable new social and economic products and services.
Download or read book Farmer profiling Making data work for smallholder farmers written by Addison, C. and published by CTA. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study presented in this report was commissioned by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) as a member of the Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) initiative, and was conducted by SB Consulting (SBC4D). The objective of the research is to understand the role of farmer organisations (FO) and cooperatives in the agriculture data ecosystem. These organisations have long been recognised to play an important role in society that translates into the improvement of living conditions of their members, particularly the low-income earning population. More than 40% of households in Africa are member of a cooperative society ([ILO-2000]) and the cooperative movement is Africa’s biggest nongovernmental organisation. The key question this report explores is the role of these organisations in the emergent “data revolution.” How can they ensure that this data revolution benefits their members and the smallholder farmers in general, and at the same time contribute to the revolution by providing valuable information to policy makers or other stakeholders of the ecosystem?
Download or read book Resilience Thinking written by Brian Walker and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change, and seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced in order to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency by itself cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down. In Resilience Thinking, scientist Brian Walker and science writer David Salt present an accessible introduction to the emerging paradigm of resilience. The book arose out of appeals from colleagues in science and industry for a plainly written account of what resilience is all about and how a resilience approach differs from current practices. Rather than complicated theory, the book offers a conceptual overview along with five case studies of resilience thinking in the real world. It is an engaging and important work for anyone interested in managing risk in a complex world.
Download or read book Innovation Platforms for Agricultural Development written by Iddo Dror and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovation Platforms (IPs) form the core of many Agricultural Research for Development programmes, stimulating multi-stakeholder collaboration and action towards the realization of agricultural development outcomes. This book enhances the body of knowledge of IPs by focusing on mature IPs in agricultural systems research, including the crop and livestock sectors, and innovations in farmer cooperatives and agricultural extension services. Resulting from an international IP case study competition, the examples reported will help the many actors involved with agricultural IPs worldwide reflect on their actions and achievements (or failures), and find tools to share their experience. Chapters feature case studies from Central Africa, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nicaragua and Uganda. Authors reflect critically on the impact of IPs and showcase their progress, providing an important sourcebook and inspiration for students, researchers and professionals.
Download or read book The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018 2019 written by Tsan, Michael and published by CTA. This book was released on 2019-06-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains.
Download or read book Digital technologies in agriculture and rural areas written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report aims to identify the different scenarios where the process of digital transformation is taking place in agriculture. This identifies those aspects of basic conditions, such as those of infrastructure and networks, affordability, education and institutional support. In addition, enablers are identified, which are the factors that allow adopting and integrating changes in the production and decision-making processes. Finally identify through cases, existing literature and reports how substantive changes are taking place in the adoption of digital technologies in agriculture.
Download or read book Contract Farming for Inclusive Market Access written by Carlos A. Da Silva and published by Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). This book was released on 2013 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to typify the extent to which contract farming is helping small farmers to access markets and meet increasingly stringent requirements, not only of "modern" food manufacturers, retailers, exporters and food service firms,by also in non-food sectors such as biofuels and forestry. It also seeks to clarify differences in the functionality of contracts depending on commodity, market, technology, public policies and country circumstances. Conceptual issues are discussed and a series of case study appraisals based on real world examples from developing regions are presented. The issuesraised by the case study authors and the key messages synthesized in the initial book chapter bring new insights and contributions to further enrich knowledge on contract farming as a tool for inclusive market access in development countries.
Download or read book Community Seed Banks written by Ronnie Vernooy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Community seed banks first appeared towards the end of the 1980s, established with the support of international and national non-governmental organizations. This book is the first to provide a global review of their development and includes a wide range of case studies. Countries that pioneered various types of community seed banks include Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In the North, a particular type of community seed bank emerged known as a seed-savers network. Such networks were first established in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA before spreading to other countries. Over time, the number and diversity of seed banks has grown. In Nepal, for example, there are now more than 100 self-described community seed banks whose functions range from pure conservation to commercial seed production. In Brazil, community seed banks operate in various regions of the country. Surprisingly, despite 25 years of history and the rapid growth in number, organizational diversity and geographical coverage of community seed banks, recognition of their roles and contributions has remained scanty. The book reviews their history, evolution, experiences, successes and failures (and reasons why), challenges and prospects. It fills a significant gap in the literature on agricultural biodiversity and conservation, and their contribution to food sovereignty and security.
Download or read book Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization A Framework for Africa written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-03-13 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This framework presents ten interrelated principles/elements to guide Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Further, it presents the technical issues to be considered under SAMA and the options to be analysed at the country and sub regional levels. The ten key elements required in a framework for SAMA are as follows: The analysis in the framework calls for a specific approach, involving learning from other parts of the world where significant transformation of the agricultural mechanization sector has already occurred within a three-to-four decade time frame, and developing policies and programmes to realize Africa’s aspirations of Zero Hunger by 2025. This approach entails the identification and prioritization of relevant and interrelated elements to help countries develop strategies and practical development plans that create synergies in line with their agricultural transformation plans. Given the unique characteristics of each country and the diverse needs of Africa due to the ecological heterogeneity and the wide range of farm sizes, the framework avoids being prescriptive.
Download or read book Structural change fundamentals and growth a framework and case studies written by McMillan, Margaret and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2017-05-11 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1973 and 2016, the ways to manipulate DNA to endow new characteristics in an organism (that is, biotechnology) have advanced, enabling the development of products that were not previously possible. What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5â€"10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology? Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology analyzes the future landscape of biotechnology products and seeks to inform forthcoming policy making. This report identifies potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood.
Download or read book The Potato Crop written by Hugo Campos and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.
