Download or read book Potential Impact of Investments in Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa written by and published by CIMMYT. This book was released on with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Drought Stress in Maize Zea mays L written by Muhammad Aslam and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-20 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on early germination, one of maize germplasm most important strategies for adapting to drought-induced stress. Some genotypes have the ability to adapt by either reducing water losses or by increasing water uptake. Drought tolerance is also an adaptive strategy that enables crop plants to maintain their normal physiological processes and deliver higher economical yield despite drought stress. Several processes are involved in conferring drought tolerance in maize: the accumulation of osmolytes or antioxidants, plant growth regulators, stress proteins and water channel proteins, transcription factors and signal transduction pathways. Drought is one of the most detrimental forms of abiotic stress around the world and seriously limits the productivity of agricultural crops. Maize, one of the leading cereal crops in the world, is sensitive to drought stress. Maize harvests are affected by drought stress at different growth stages in different regions. Numerous events in the life of maize crops can be affected by drought stress: germination potential, seedling growth, seedling stand establishment, overall growth and development, pollen and silk development, anthesis silking interval, pollination, and embryo, endosperm and kernel development. Though every maize genotype has the ability to avoid or withstand drought stress, there is a concrete need to improve the level of adaptability to drought stress to address the global issue of food security. The most common biological strategies for improving drought stress resistance include screening available maize germplasm for drought tolerance, conventional breeding strategies, and marker-assisted and genomic-assisted breeding and development of transgenic maize. As a comprehensive understanding of the effects of drought stress, adaptive strategies and potential breeding tools is the prerequisite for any sound breeding plan, this brief addresses these aspects.
Download or read book Drought tolerant Maize in East Africa written by Laura Anne Paul and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crop failure from drought has severe economic and welfare consequences for farmers, particularly in Eastern and Southern Africa. The vulnerability of households without resources exacerbates the consequences of crop failure. Improved crop varieties, such as Drought-Tolerant (DT) maize, can increase yield levels while decreasing yield variability. Yet farmers are slow to adopt DT maize varieties despite the potential for increased yield stability and income security. Chapter 1 introduces the research questions, focused on why DT adoption is low, Chapter 2 provides a literature review on maize, drought, and DT technologies, and Chapter 3 describes the data from On-Farm Trials, weather data, and household survey data. These set up the analysis in Chapter 4 of DT maize yield outcomes, and in Chapter 5 on the role of availability bias in adoption decisions. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation, suggesting the limitations of DT maize as a solution to food insecurity in East Africa. In the first of two analytical chapters, Chapter 4 identifies the unconditional and stochastic advantages of the DT trait using high resolution climate data, while also demonstrating heterogeneity among farms. DT maize has a significant unconditional yield advantage over comparison varieties in the On-Farm Trials. Further, there is a stochastic benefit, or protective effect, to the DT trait: it is indeed a more resilient variety under drought conditions. The DT maize has an average yield gain of 10% over comparison varieties under normal rainfall levels, and that benefit increases to 12% in drought conditions. There is significant heterogeneity in returns from the DT maize seed technology--lower-productivity farms experience the weakest unconditional and stochastic benefits. Variation in realized advantages might reduce the large expected benefits from the DT maize technology. Chapter 5 analyzes the adoption of DT maize in the context of expectations of the stochastic and heterogeneous benefits to the technology. A farmer's adoption decision is based on subjective beliefs about the likelihood of drought and the crop response to drought stress. Farmers' expectations of drought likelihood depend on experience and on common cognitive biases. The adoption decision model gives insight into the limited uptake of DT maize due to the role of information and expectations. Detailed household survey data combined with high-resolution climate and yield data show that adoption patterns indicate only a limited comprehension of how the DT trait actually works. Additionally, cognitive biases, such as recency and salience bias, might encourage adoption of DT among farmers.
Download or read book Maize written by Akbar Hossain and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-04-22 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize is a staple cereal after wheat and rice. It is an important source of carbohydrate, protein, iron, vitamin B and minerals for many poor people in the world. In developing countries maize is a major source of income in resource-poor farmers. As maize is used both as silage and as crop residue and the grains of maize are usually used for food, starch and oil extraction industrially, the demand for maize is rising day by day. Therefore, it is imperative for improvement of maize to meet the increasing demand. This book entitled "Maize - Production and Use" highlights the importance of maize and the improved management approaches for improving the productivity of maize in the era of changing climate.
Download or read book Climate Change and Food Security written by David B. Lobell and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-12-21 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roughly a billion people around the world continue to live in state of chronic hunger and food insecurity. Unfortunately, efforts to improve their livelihoods must now unfold in the context of a rapidly changing climate, in which warming temperatures and changing rainfall regimes could threaten the basic productivity of the agricultural systems on which most of the world’s poor directly depend. But whether climate change represents a minor impediment or an existential threat to development is an area of substantial controversy, with different conclusions wrought from different methodologies and based on different data. This book aims to resolve some of the controversy by exploring and comparing the different methodologies and data that scientists use to understand climate’s effects on food security. In explains the nature of the climate threat, the ways in which crops and farmers might respond, and the potential role for public and private investment to help agriculture adapt to a warmer world. This broader understanding should prove useful to both scientists charged with quantifying climate threats, and policy-makers responsible for crucial decisions about how to respond. The book is especially suitable as a companion to an interdisciplinary undergraduate or graduate level class.
Download or read book Crop Selection written by Pradeep Kurukulasuriya and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: This paper examines whether the choice of crops is affected by climate in Africa. Using a multinomial logit model, the paper regresses crop choice on climate, soils, and other factors. The model is estimated using a sample of more than 7,000 farmers across 11 countries in Africa. The study finds that crop choice is very climate sensitive. For example, farmers select sorghum and maize-millet in the cooler regions of Africa; maize-beans, maize-groundnut, and maize in moderately warm regions' and cowpea, cowpea-sorghum, and millet-groundnut in hot regions. Further, farmers choose sorghum, and millet-groundnut when conditions are dry; cowpea, cowpea-sorghum, maize-millet, and maize when medium wet; and maize-beans and maize-groundnut when wet. As temperatures warm, farmers will shift toward more heat tolerant crops. Depending on whether precipitation increases or decreases, farmers will also shift toward drought tolerant or water loving crops, respectively. There are several policy relevant conclusions to draw from this study. First, farmers will adapt to climate change by switching crops. Second, global warming impact studies cannot assume crop choice is exogenous. Third, this study only examines choices across current crops. Future farmers may well have more choices. There is an important role for agronomic research in developing new varieties more suited for higher temperatures. Future farmers may have even better adaptation alternatives with an expanded set of crop choices specifically targeted at higher temperatures.
Download or read book Characterization of Maize Germplasm Grown in Eastern and Southern Africa written by and published by CIMMYT. This book was released on 2008 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Genetically Engineered Crops written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-01-28 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.
Download or read book Agricultural Decision Analysis written by Jock R. Anderson and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to decision analysis. Probability. Revision of probalities. Utility. Procedures for decision analysis. Production under risk. Whole-farm planning under risk. Investment appraisal. Decision anlysis with preferences unknown.
Download or read book Advances in Molecular Breeding Toward Drought and Salt Tolerant Crops written by Matthew A. Jenks and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 819 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With near-comprehensive coverage of new advances in crop breeding for drought and salinity stress tolerance, this timely work seeks to integrate the most recent findings about key biological determinants of plant stress tolerance with modern crop improvement strategies. This volume is unique because is provides exceptionally wide coverage of current knowledge and expertise being applied in drought and salt tolerance research.
Download or read book Plant Breeding Reviews Volume 43 written by Irwin Goldman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-12-17 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents 1. Maria Isabel Andrade: Sweetpotato Breeder, Technology Transfer Specialist, and Advocate 1 2. Development of Cold Climate Grapes in the Upper Midwestern U.S.: The Pioneering Work of Elmer Swenson 31 3. Candidate Genes to Extend Fleshy Fruit Shelf Life 61 4. Breeding Naked Barley for Food, Feed, and Malt 95 5. The Foundations, Continuing Evolution, and Outcomes from the Application of Intellectual Property Protection in Plant Breeding and Agriculture 121 6. The Use of Endosperm Genes for Sweet Corn Improvement: A review of developments in endosperm genes in sweet corn since the seminal publication in Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 1, by Charles Boyer and Jack Shannon (1984) 215 7. Gender and Farmer Preferences for Varietal Traits: Evidence and Issues for Crop Improvement 243 8. Domestication, Genetics, and Genomics of the American Cranberry 279 9. Images and Descriptions of Cucurbita maxima in Western Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 317
Download or read book Save and Grow written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-06-22 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.
Download or read book Realizing the Promise and Potential of African Agriculture written by InterAcademy Council and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is rich in both natural and human resources, yet nearly 200 million of its people are undernourished because of inadequate food supplies. Comprehensive strategies are needed across the continent to harness the power of science and technology (S&T) in ways that boost agricultural productivity, profitability, and sustainability -- ultimately ensuring that all Africans have access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs. This report addresses the question of how science and technology can be mobilized to make that promise a reality.
Download or read book Save and Grow in practice maize rice wheat written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FAO’s best-selling 2011 publication, Save and Grow, proposed a new paradigm of agriculture, one that is both highly productive and environmentally sustainable. This new book looks at the application of “Save and Grow” practices and technologies to production of the world’s key food security crops – maize, rice and wheat. With examples drawn from developing countries worldwide, it shows how eco-friendly farming systems are helping smallholder producers to boost cereal yields, improve their incomes and livelihoods, conserve natural resources, reduce negative impacts on the environment, and build resilience to climate change. The book will be a valuable reference for policymakers and development practitioners guiding the transition to sustainable food and agriculture.
Download or read book The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security 2021 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-03-17 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.
Download or read book Responses of Plants to Environmental Stresses written by Jacob Levitt and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Coping with Risk in Agriculture 3rd Edition written by J Brian Hardaker and published by CABI. This book was released on 2015-04-24 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Risk and uncertainty are inescapable factors in agriculture which require careful management. Farmers face production risks from the weather, crop and livestock performance, and pests and diseases, as well as institutional, personal and business risks. This revised third edition of the popular textbook includes updated chapters on theory and methods and contains a new chapter discussing the state-contingent approach to the analysis of production and the use of copulas to better model stochastic dependency. Aiming to introduce agricultural decision making, probability and risk preference, this book is an indispensable guide for students and researchers of agriculture and agribusiness management.
