Adoption and adaptation of natural resource management innovations in smallholder agriculture: reflections on key lessons and best practices

Many smallholder farmers in vulnerable areas continue to face complex challenges in adoption and adaptation of resource management and conservation strategies. Although much has been learned from diverse experiences in sustainable resource management, there is still inadequate understanding of the market, policy and institutional failures that shape and structure farmer incentives and investment decisions. The policy and institutional failures exacerbate market failures, locking smallholder resource users into a low level equilibrium that perpetuates poverty and land degradation. Improved market access that raises the returns to land and labor is often the driving force for adoption of new practices in agriculture. Market linkages, access to credit and availability of pro-poor options for beneficial conservation are critical factors in stimulating livelihood and sustainability-enhancing investments. Future interventions need to promote joint innovations that ensure farmer experimentation and adaptation of new technologies and careful consideration of market, policy and institutional factors that stimulate widespread smallholder investments. Future projects should act as ‘toolboxes’, giving essential support to farmers to devise complementary solutions based on available options. Addressing the externalities and institutional failures that prevent private and joint investments for management of agricultural landscapes will require new kinds of institutional mechanisms for empowering communities through local collective action that would ensure broad participation and equitable distributions of the gains from joint conservation investments. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

国际河流整体开发和管理及两大理论依据

概括了国际河流开发和管理特征、存在的主要问题和“流域整体开发和管理”的演进过程 ,分析了系统理论和可持续发展理论的具体体现 ,提出国际河流整体开发和管理主要体现在以下三个方面内容 :(1)强调区域之间的联系 ,要求从全流域的角度 ,而不是仅仅从国家的角度来进行开发和管理。在资源开发和管理中兼顾各流域国的目标 ,体现公平合理性 ,要求一国的开发利用对其它流域国不造成重大损害 ;要求各流域国加强合作。 (2 )强调流域内各要素的相关性 ,要求资源的开发和管理中考虑相关资源的利用问题 ,如与水资源相关的土地资源利用问题 ,以及国家之间的制度协调等社会人文因素。 (3)要求考虑河道生态系统的可持续性 ,维护流域的可持续发展。     

Can’t get there from here: attainable distance,sustainable intensification and full-scale technical potential

Full-scale technical potential provides a clear horizon for agricultural technology policy to meet the dual and urgent challenge of meeting food security and minimising the effects of climate change. A common stated goal is to double food production by 2050 to meet the needs of 9 billion people. The frontier of full-scale technical potential embodies this goal and provides a panacea for policy makers. However, the pathway between the present adoption of technologies towards this frontier is paved with some hazards which may be insurmountable. We develop a conceptual framework based on adoption levels of technology. The key criteria between current and potential adoption of technologies is the role of enablers, that is interventions which create changes in structural, distributional, technical, social and behavioural cultures. Policy must find optimal mixtures of regulation and voluntary mechanisms to fully encourage uptake of technologies and shift current adoption to meet full-scale technical potential. A range of technologies can be aligned with sustainable intensification and are examined in terms of this enabler framework. Further examination of the framework allows us to conclude that full-scale technical potential will never be achieved due to the stochastic nature of agricultural production, the diversity of motivations and institutional structures operating within food supply chains, as well as unbalanced cost-effectiveness criteria. We argue that sustainable intensification may provide a direction of travel for attaining food security but its poor conception, limited acceptability and understanding amongst the communities of interest lead to over-optimism in determining the journey to this final destination.     

社会嵌入视角下农户保护性耕作技术采用行为研究——基于冀、皖、鄂3省668份农户调查数据

基于冀、皖、鄂3省5个市（县）22个村的668份农户调查数据，通过社会嵌入理论实证分析了影响农户保护性耕作技术采用行为的嵌入因素。结果表明:政府支持、农户认知和社会资本网络3个维度9个变量的“嵌入因素”对农户保护性耕作技术采用行为有显著影响。其中，政府政策宣传、项目扶持，农户生态、社会、经济价值认知，人际信任、制度信任、互惠规范和农户参与网络正向影响农户保护性耕作技术采用行为。对此，政府应提高对保护性耕作技术的重视程度，加大对保护性耕作技术的宣传力度，因地制宜构建有利于保护性耕作技术推广的社会嵌入环境，以有效促进农户积极采用保护性耕作技术。     

基于正态云模型的区域矿产资源可持续力评价

矿产资源是人类生存和社会可持续发展的基础,研究区域矿产资源的可持续力发展水平、能力和发展趋势,不仅仅是个地区问题,更应是资源保障问题,因而对我国资源承载能力和可持续发展具有十分重要的意义。针对当前区域矿产资源可持续力定量测度研究较少,且现有评价方法不能同时兼顾指标的模糊性与随机性的难题,该研究将正态云模型引入区域矿产资源可持续力综合评价。从资源、经济、环境(含人口)三方面构建矿产资源可持续力评价指标体系,基于正态云模型结合改进的层次分析法,不仅使得指标特点得以保真,而且各指标权重的计算量也大大减少,提高了评价方法的适用性。以湖南省2010—2015年间的矿产资源为研究对象,进行矿产资源可持续力定量测度。结果显示,6年间,湖南省矿产资源可持续力状态虽然始终处于III级(一般)状态,但可持续力综合值从2.600 0上升到3.070 8,区域矿产资源可持续力水平有日趋增加态势;个别评价指标仍处于较弱状态,单位GDP能耗量、万元工业产值中矿业产值比率、人口密度单因子得分值均2.5,表明这些指标相对较弱,有待进一步采取相关措施进行改善。该评价结果与实地调研基本吻合,表明该方法是可行的。本方法在定量评价中能兼顾随机性和模糊性,且计算过程简便,结果可靠,能为矿产资源定量评价提供参考。     

Evaluating Consumer Understanding of the Swedish Meat Guide—A Multi-layered Environmental Information Tool Communicating Trade-offs When Choosing Food

To facilitate the choice of more sustainable animal-based products in the diet, a Swedish meat guide providing complex, multi-layered environmental information to non-experts has been developed. This study evaluated reception of this guide by consumers. In five focus groups, participants (“interested consumers”) carried out a joint environmental and animal welfare ranking assignment to test understanding and use of the guide. The type and detail of indicators (e.g. carbon footprint) in the meat guide suited the audience. The guide stimulated discussion on ethical issues and quality aspects of meat, revealed perceived obstacles to reducing meat consumption and provided an understanding that any food product chosen comes with trade-offs.     

Feeding the world sustainably: knowledge governance and sustainable agriculture in the Argentine Pampas

This article discusses the role of knowledge governance arrangements in the mainstreaming of sustainable practices, in particular, in the creation, sharing and use of integrated and contextualized knowledge. That is, knowledge which accounts for the social, economic, institutional, and ecological dimensions of potentially sustainable practices, and which considers the need to adapt generic practices to the sustainability requirements of specific places. An actor-centered approach is proposed for the study of the historical evolution of knowledge governance arrangements in order to understand their role in the adoption of sustainable practices. The approach is applied to explain the rapid adoption of no-till agriculture in the Argentine Pampas. A radical knowledge governance transformation occurring in this region during the 1990s led to increasing knowledge exchange and pushing sustainability practices to the top of key actors’ agendas. This embracing of no-till agriculture illustrates the crucial role played by farmers’ associations as boundary organizations: linking farmers with actors specialized in the generation of scientific knowledge and technology. This case reveals that sustainability transitions can be fostered through knowledge governance arenas characterized by: (a) promoting public–private collaboration through boundary organizations, (b) assigning private actors a leading role in the adoption of sustainability practices at the production unit scale, (c) fostering the public sector competence in regional and socio-ecological research, and (d) addressing the heterogeneous needs of knowledge users. However, the case also shows that the success of no-till agriculture in the Pampas is pushing the agriculturization of surrounding areas where this practice is largely unsustainable. This finding suggests that present knowledge governance arrangements fail to contextualize practices that are potentially sustainable.     

基于SEM的农户测土配方施肥技术采纳意愿及其影响因素研究

测土配方施肥技术可以促进农业节本增效，提高农户科学施肥水平，改善农业生产环境。然而，目前存在农户认知不明确、政府推广机制不健全、配套服务不完善等问题，使得测土配方施肥技术的入户采纳率有待提高。为更有效地推广测土配方施肥技术，以江西省277个农户调查数据为依据，通过农户采纳意愿、感知有用性、感知易用性、主观规范、便利条件、结果展示、农户特征为潜变量，利用结构方程模型（SEM）定量化地探究农户主观意识及环境背景对农户测土配方施肥技术采纳意愿的影响。结果表明：感知有用性、感知易用性与主观规范是影响农户采纳意愿的关键因素，影响程度排序为感知易用性（0.431）>感知有用性（0.325）>主观规范（0.266）；结果展示和农户特征对感知有用性与感知易用性具有显著的正向影响；便利条件对感知易用性具有显著的正向影响。基于上述研究结果，本文从农户引导、政府扶持、技术创新与评价体系构建这四方面提出进一步推广测土配方施肥技术的建议。     

Sustainable supplier selection for the cold supply chain (CSC) in the context of a developing country

Cold supply chain (CSC) is a process that involves temperature-controlled activities ranging from the acquisition of raw materials and down to the end consumers. A sustainable cold chain supplier is the one that incorporates sustainable practices in its complete cycle of operations. This is to ensure keeping the products from going to waste, especially in the case of a developing country. To identify the driving factors towards the sustainable cold chain supplier, this study utilizes the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach in the first phase. Fifteen various sustainability factors were analyzed and the “utilization of renewable resources” factor concluded to be the most important driving factor. By implementing renewable resources, a supplier can be able to convert its manufacturing processes and services to sustainable assets. The second phase of this study conducts the selection of cold chain suppliers in the context of Pakistan. For this purpose, fuzzy VIKOR, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is incorporated to analyze eight suppliers based on fifteen distinct criteria. The results concluded Mitchell foods to be the most economically, environmentally and socially sustainable suppliers in the context of Pakistan. This study recommends providing business-friendly incentives to suppliers like Mitchells and new investors who tend to keep their operations sustainable by adopting renewable resources. Furthermore, the relaxation of taxes and creating job employability by working with sustainable suppliers can contribute positively towards economic growth and the overall society. The study holds novelty in the area of cold chain supplier selection for Pakistan by utilizing a novel approach in the form of ISM and fuzzy VIKOR techniques, thus forming a major application of this research study.

Graphic abstract

     

Determinants for cassava production expansion in the semi-arid zone of West Africa

The study focuses on evaluating factors that farmers consider relevant in adopting cassava production in five semi-arid zone of West African countries. The study is based on primary data randomly collected as part of collaborative study of cassava in semiarid zones of Africa (COSCASSA) village level survey from five West African countries namely: Nigeria, Ghana, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso. This study models effects of farm, farmer and technology specific factors on the decision of semi arid farmers to adopt cassava into their farming system. By way of threshold decision models—Probit and Logit models, the estimation of each country and the pooled data adoption models reveal different adoption models for the countries considered. For each country, different variables appeared as major adoption shifters. Comparatively, the adoption models for Nigeria and whole region appear to have the highest significance variables, being seven in number. This is followed by Chad (6), Ghana (4), and Burkina Faso and Niger with three each. For the variables considered, distance to nearby urban market appears a major adoption shifter in all the country, except for Niger. This is closely followed by contact with extension, variety, pest/disease resistance and livestock feeds, which appear significant in four of the countries. Membership of cooperative societies appears as the least adoption predictor, which is only significant in Chad republic. The study therefore recognizes the importance of varietial characteristics and farmers’ characteristics in acceptance of cassava as a major root tuber crop in the semi arid region of West Africa. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

An agent-based model of groundwater over-exploitation in the Upper Guadiana, Spain

Irrigated agriculture is a main user of groundwater. Achieving a sustainable use of groundwater will often require agricultural land-use changes such as shifting to entirely different kinds of crops and/or technologies. Enhanced understanding of land-use change is hence required for developing policies for a sustainable water future. We use an agent-based model to investigate the history of irrigated agriculture in the Upper Guadiana Basin, Spain, in order to learn about the influence of farmers’ characteristics on land-use change and associated groundwater over-use. A shift from vineyards and cereals to horticultural crops would provide a possibility for higher income with less water use. Such a shift cannot be observed historically. The model results suggest that risk aversion and path dependency are insufficient to explain this observation, and the organisational set-up of farms limiting the maximum labour force needs to be considered as additional explanatory factor. Furthermore, it is shown that different types of farms existing in the UGB can be expected to exhibit distinct responses to drivers of land-use change such as agricultural policies. It is concluded that a sound understanding of the social system making use of a resource is required to solve problems of resource over-use. This article demonstrates that agent-based models can be useful tools to enhance such an understanding even in situations of scarce and uncertain data that are often encountered when dealing with resource-use problems.     

Sustainable Tourism and the Touristic Ecological Footprint

There is growing interest in ecological footprint analysis in aiding our understanding of societal demands upon the biosphere. Increasingly, attention is being focused on potential new applications of the technique. Tourism is one of the world's largest industries and can play a major part in encouraging more consumerist lifestyles. It is now widely accepted that tourism development may have profound impacts on local environments, and that, consequently, the sustainable development of tourism at destination areas is an important issue. However, sustainable tourism studies rarely look beyond the destination area, and there has been no substantive recognition of the wider ecological footprint of tourism activities. This paper attempts to connect, conceptually, the realms of sustainable tourism and ecological footprint thinking. In so doing, various conceptualisations of the 'touristic ecological footprint' (TEF) are suggested, along with some potential applications. It is argued that primary research should focus on calculating the touristic ecological footprint associated with individual tourism products, throughout the product's life-cycle. As well as bringing another dimension to our understanding of tourism's actual ecological demand, it is also argued that the concept of the touristic ecological footprint may be used to clarify theoretical aspects of the sustainable tourism debate, helping to rejuvenate this debate in the process.     

Tour Level Mode Choice Analysis of Madison Area in Wisconsin

This study is to investigate what factors and how they affect tours （trip chains） behavior. The key issue is the understanding and definition of tour and tour level mode. Also, these definitions should fit for the data. A semi-home based tour definition is stated, and a competing mode based tour mode is defined. Based on the definition, this study used Madison Area Data from National Household Survey to estimate a MNL structured model. It is found that travel distance could be a positive factor for car mode. Meanwhile, the number of trips is also a positive factor for choosing car.     

基于改进模型的区域生态足迹动态分析——以江苏省南通市为例

20世纪90年代以来,生态足迹模型作为定量化可持续评价的重要理论方法得到了广泛的应用。基于传统生态足迹模型,结合遥感产品净初级生产力数据,构建了基于净初级生产力的生态足迹模型,调整了均衡因子和产量因子,并增加了污染物账户。在此基础上,应用传统模型和改进后的模型分别计算了南通市2000~2013年的生态足迹。结果表明:(1)传统生态足迹模型和改进模型下的南通市2000~2013年人均生态足迹都是稳步增长的,改进后的模型变化较小;(2)南通市2000~2013年生态承载力虽有所波动,但整体上呈下降趋势;(3)南通市连续14年出现生态赤字,从2000年的0.308 6 hm~2/人上升到0.587 7 hm~2/人,生态系统处于不安全状态,生态系统的稳定性降低。可见,改进的生态足迹模型能更准确地反映研究区自然资源利用状况。最后,针对南通市生态不安全状况,从土地结构、能源消费等方面提出减少生态足迹的建议。     

Social and ecological facets of pest management in Honduran subsistence agriculture: implications for IPM extension and natural resource management

In subsistence farming systems of the developing world, adoption of resource-conserving practices such as integrated pest management (IPM) is often strikingly low. This has partially been ascribed to researchers’ limited understanding of how technologies develop at the interface of the systems’ social and ecological components. In Honduras (Central America), there exists concern about limited adoption and diffusion of IPM technologies in certain smallholder production systems. In this study, we determine social and ecological drivers of IPM adoption in subsistence maize production in the country’s hillside environment. Honduran small-scale maize production is typified by a key insect pest (the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda) being partly kept at bay through action of a diverse natural enemy complex, including ants, social wasps, carabid beetles, and spiders. Local agricultural landscapes, primarily shaped through shifting cultivation, provide key resources to maintain this natural enemy diversity. These local ecological conditions and related natural enemy abundance strongly influence farmers’ agroecological knowledge and pest management practices. In the meantime, farmer practices are also affected by local communication networks, which help validate and spread IPM concepts and technologies. Based on our findings, we advocate a holistic approach to improve IPM extension through mapping of agroecological opportunities, visualization of regional patterns in farmer knowledge, and associated priority setting. Local IPM capacity could be built through institutional strengthening and adaptive comanagement, while IPM training should be linked with natural resource management initiatives. These approaches may eventually improve the way IPM is delivered to small-scale farmers who operate in the ecologically diverse environments of the tropics.     

Perceived Influence of Proenvironmental Testimonials

Recommendations for communicators to make environmental issues more concrete in public align with the tenets of exemplification theory. Audiences may also engage with messages that they perceive as influencing them more than others, an outcome that aligns with the third-person effects framework. What is not well known is how these two areas of research intersect, namely, how exemplars about environmental issues may impact perceived message influence on the self-relative to others. This study examines the effects of testimonials on the perceived influence of environmental messages. Two experiments, each conducted simultaneously in Singapore and the Midwestern US, suggest that university students perceive themselves to be more influenced than others by proenvironmental messages. The second experiment shows that this perceptual bias is related to message desirability and individuals’ environmental values. Both experiments reveal location-specific effects, which is useful for understanding how to communicate environmental problems to global audiences.     

Tour Level Mode Choice Analysis of Madison Area in Wisconsin

Abstract

This study is to investigate what factors and how they affect tours (trip chains) behavior. The key issue is the understanding and definition of tour and tour level mode. Also, these definitions should fit for the data. A semi-home based tour definition is stated, and a competing mode based tour mode is defined. Based on the definition, this study used Madison Area Data from National Household Survey to estimate a MNL structured model. It is found that travel distance could be a positive factor for car mode. Meanwhile, the number of trips is also a positive factor for choosing car.     

Analysis of farm-level adoption of soil nutrient management technology by paddy farmers in Karnataka,India

Adoption of soil test-based nutrient management is important for achieving sustainable development of agriculture. The present study analysed the factors influencing the adoption of soil nutrient management technology package comprising adoption of soil test and recommended fertiliser by paddy farmers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka by using field survey data. Bivariate probit model was used to estimate the sequential adoption decisions on soil test and fertiliser application technologies. The study results showed that farmers’ training on fertiliser application and education had positive and significant effect on adoption of soil nutrient technology package. The likelihood of adoption of soil test technology decreases with increase in distance measured from farm to soil test laboratory. Availability of fewer family labour increases the probability of adoption of soil nutrient management technology. These results have significant policy implications for provision of soil testing facilities nearer to villages and for conducting periodical training programmes for encouraging the farmers to adopt soil test-based nutrient management.