Land and Water Use Practices for Sustainable Smallholders' Livelihoods
Author: U. Hemantha Kumar
Publisher:
Published: 2013
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Study carried out in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and West Bengal states.
Lanterna Rally
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Sustainable Water Management in Smallholder Farming
Author: Sara Finley
Publisher: CABI
Published: 2016-07-27
Total Pages: 206
ISBN-13: 1780646860
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Water is critical to all human activities, but access to this crucial resource is increasingly limited by competition and the effects of climate change. In agriculture, water management is key to ensuring good and sustained crop yields, maintaining soil health, and safeguarding the long-term viability of the land. Water management is especially challenging on smallholder farms in resource-poor areas, which tend to be primarily rainfed and thus highly dependent on unreliable rainfall patterns. Sustainable practices can help farmers promote the development of soils, plants and field surfaces to allow maximum retention of water between rains, and encourage the efficient use of each drop of water applied as irrigation. Especially useful for farmers' groups, agricultural extension workers, NGOs, students and researchers working with farmers in dryland areas, this comprehensive yet concise book is a practical and accessible resource for anyone interested in sustainable water management.
Sustainable Land Management Practices and Their Impacts on the Livelihoods of Smallholders Farmers in Benishangul Gumuz Region of Ethiopia
Author: Mahammad Arega
Publisher:
Published: 2019
Total Pages: 14
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Land degradation has been identified as one of the most serious problems that threaten the sustainability of agriculture. In an effort to address these problems, the basic paradigm and approach to soil and water conservation has itself evolved over time. In recent years more holistic and land-scape wide approaches that go beyond resource conservation towards improved land husbandry and water management for beneficial conservation have been promoted using a national guideline. Hence, the major concern of this study was impact of adoption of SLMP. To meet this objective a total of 156 sample households, consisting 78 Sustainable land management adopter and 78 non-adopter/non-participants, were randomly selected from three kebeles in sample district. Descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests, and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to meet the stated objective. Descriptive statistical analyses such as mean, standard deviation and percentage were used to analyses basic household characteristics and the. Estimates of propensity score matching (PSM) indicate the existence of significant crop production increment on average 2.5 quintal production increment per hectare in each household head that were participated in adoption of sustainable land management practice value premium compared to non-adopter. The result indicated that Sustainable land management is crucial in improving the livelihoods of the farm households. However, to realize the intended outcomes, solving the fragmented nature of land holding, motivating development agent, rewarding model farmers require immediate attention.
Changing Land Use, Changing Livelihoods
Author:
Publisher: Mdpi AG
Published: 2017-03-03
Total Pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9783038423423
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book brings together eleven works by scholars within and beyond geography, to argue the case for a continued engagement with smallholder agricultural studies. The research detailed is largely empirical and draws on a wide spectrum of mixed qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The case studies cover a range of geographic locations, including Brazil, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Vietnam, and the USA, with greatest emphasis in sub-Saharan Africa. Key themes that emerge include the structural and relative nature of "smallholder" as a category, the dynamic reality of smallholder livelihoods, the importance of smallholder farming and land-use practices to questions of environmental sustainability, and the challenges of vulnerability and adaptation in contemporary human-environment systems. Overall these studies show that smallholder studies are more pertinent than ever, especially in the face of finite resources and global environmental change.
Changing Land Use, Changing Livelihoods: Smallholders Today
Author: Claudia A. Radel
Publisher:
Published:
Total Pages: 242
ISBN-13: 9783038423430
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book brings together eleven works by scholars within and beyond geography, to argue the case for a continued engagement with smallholder agricultural studies. The research detailed is largely empirical and draws on a wide spectrum of mixed qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The case studies cover a range of geographic locations, including Brazil, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Vietnam, and the USA, with greatest emphasis in sub-Saharan Africa. Key themes that emerge include the structural and relative nature of "smallholder" as a category, the dynamic reality of smallholder livelihoods, the importance of smallholder farming and land-use practices to questions of environmental sustainability, and the challenges of vulnerability and adaptation in contemporary human-environment systems. Overall these studies show that smallholder studies are more pertinent than ever, especially in the face of finite resources and global environmental change.
Sustainable Land Management Sourcebook
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Published: 2008-06-17
Total Pages: 196
ISBN-13: 0821374338
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Policies promoting pro-poor agricultural growth are the key to helping countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals especially the goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. The public sector, private sector, and civil society organizations are working to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector to reduce rural poverty and sustain the natural resource base. The pathways involve participation by rural communities, science and technology, knowledge generation and further learning, capacity enhancement, and institution building. Sustainable land management (SLM) an essential component of such policies will help to ensure the productivity of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and hydrology. SLM will also support a range of ecosystem services on which agriculture depends. The 'Sustainable Land Management Sourcebook' provides a knowledge repository of tested practices and innovative resource management approaches that are currently being tested. The diverse menu of options represents the current state of the art of good land management practices. Section one identifies the need and scope for SLM and food production in relation to cross-sector issues such as freshwater and forest resources, regional climate and air quality, and interactions with biodiversity conservation and increasingly valuable ecosystem services. Section two categorizes the diversity of land management systems globally and the strategies for improving household livelihoods in each system type. Section three presents a range of investment notes that summarize good practice, as well as innovative activity profiles that highlight design of successful or innovative investments. Section four identifies easy-to-access, Web-based resources relevant for land and natural resource managers. The 'Sourcebook' is a living document that will be periodically updated and expanded as new material and findings become available on good land management practices. This book will be of interest to project managers and practitioners working to enhance land and natural resource management in developing countries.
The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture
Author: Earthscan
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9781849713276
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →They therefore require particular attention and specific remedial action.
Water and Soil in Holy Matrimony?
Author: Munyaradzi Mabeza
Publisher: African Books Collective
Published: 2017-02-10
Total Pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9956764051
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book is a biography based on a qualitative ethnographic study of adaptation to climate by Mr Zephaniah Phiri Maseko, an award-winning smallholder farmer from Zvishavane, rural Zimbabwe. Ethnographic data provides insight and lessons of Mr Phiri Maseko and other farmers practices for rethinking existing strategies for adaptation to climate change. The concept of adaptation is probed in relationship to the closely related concepts of vulnerability, resilience and innovation. This study also explores the concept of conviviality and argues that Mr Phiri Masekos adaptation to climate hinges on mediating barriers between local and exogenous knowledge systems. The book argues that Mr Phiri Maseko offered tangible adaptive climate strategies through his innovations that marry water and soil so that it wont elope and run-off but raise a family on his plot. His agricultural practices are anchored on the Shona concept ofhurudza(an exceptionally productive farmer). This book explores the concept and practices ofuhurudza,to suggest that the latter-dayhurudza(commercial farmer)as embodied by Mr Phiri Maseko offers an important set of resources for the development of climate adaptation strategies in the region. This study of smallholder farmers adoption of innovations to climate highlights the complex interplay of multiple factors that act as barriers to uptake. Such interplay of multiple stressors increases the vulnerability of smallholders. The study concludes by arguing that in as much as the skewed colonial land policy impoverished the smallholder farmers, Mr Phiri Maseko nonetheless redefined himself as a latter-dayhurudzaand thus breaks free from the poverty cycle by conjuring ingenious ways of reducing vulnerability to climate. The book does not suggest that Mr Phiri Masekos innovations offer a silver bullet solution to the insecure rural livelihoods of smallholder farmers; nevertheless, they are a source of hope in an environment of uncertainty. His steely tenacity in the face of a multi-stressor environment is to be treasured.
Sustainable Groundwater Development for Improved Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Paul Pavelic
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-05-08
Total Pages: 237
ISBN-13: 1000866440
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and challenges of intensifying groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for improving smallholder agrarian livelihoods. Only about 3% of the groundwater resources of Sub-Saharan Africa are used for irrigated agriculture despite the subcontinent’s relative abundance of groundwater. The majority of the region’s smallholders are highly dependent on seasonal dryland cropping, making them extremely vulnerable to uncertain weather patterns and droughts. Improved irrigation capabilities through sustainable groundwater development could unleash smallholder farming and make it a major driver of economic growth, poverty reduction, climate resilience, and improved food security. So, why is groundwater so underused? Tapping into groundwater requires a major shift in farming practices and it has its own challenges and requirements – smallholder access to land and finance for irrigation infrastructure and equipment, gendered and equitable adoption options. This whole list is framed in terms of what the smallholder farmers need. Hence, this should also be put in this context, supply chains, energy access, resource availability, and institutional support. The chapters in this book present a picture that is not only heterogeneous across the region, but also hold some common denominators. They serve to enrich the discourse and help better understand the barriers along the pathways toward the sustainable and transformative adoption of groundwater irrigation. The scientific information provided herein would be of interest to researchers, practitioners, decision makers and planners with interest in the region. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Water International journal.
Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development
Author: Ephraim Nkonya
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2015-11-11
Total Pages: 686
ISBN-13: 3319191683
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC - which accounts for 78% of the US$300 billion loss – is borne by land users and the remaining share (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law, improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure. The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
