From 1991 to 1997, field observations on trials involving the use of metalaxyl and copper-based fungicides were made on farmers' farms in four Phytophthora megakarya affected cocoa growing regions of Ghana to control Phytophthora pod rot disease. Data on farm management practices, cocoa and shade tree types and densities, plot sizes, yield, land tenure and labour arrangements for farm operations, disease incidence and profitability of disease control were collected. Lower disease incidence and higher yields were recorded on fungicide-treated plots than on the untreated plots.

Optimum crop yield is greatly affected by proper planting and sowing times. The objective of this research was to develop an algorithm that uses the heat unit concept to determine the most suitable planting times for vegetable crops. The developed algorithm was programmed in a database environment with sample climatic data for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The model was tested by validation (comparison to experts’ estimations), verification (statistical comparison to formal published data), and evaluation (by professionals, landowners, and farmers).

The fate of ecosystem services (ESS) in the United States depends on the actions of private landowners and operators (‘farmers’). This work uses a mixed qualitative and quantitative method to understand farmer knowledge of ESS and willingness to manage lands from an ESS perspective. Fourteen interviews were conducted to analyze farmer understanding of ESS within the context of conservation management.

The study used a combination of ethno-social surveys and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess 651 pastoral households and their land use under agropastoral production systems in Ogun State, Nigeria. Yields of arable crops on agropastoralists' fields were generally low. Livestock productivity was similar on all parameters to levels in comparable contexts elsewhere across the West African subregion, but generally below possible potentials and on-farm research findings. Pastoral households' activities presently influence between 221 km2 and 523 km2 of land in Ogun State.

The practice of raising cattle in the Amazon has been connected to deforestation, which has been especially intense in the Eastern Amazonian state of Pará that contained 23% of new rural settlements before 2008. The settlements were part of a program of land reform that allowed farmers to receive public credit. Public credit aims to increase production and incorporation of new technologies by settled farmers, which can lead to a decrease in pressure on forested areas.

This article examines how property rights expectations affect resource management incentives. It utilizes expected property rights over different timespans and of different strengths, corresponding to (a) investments of different intensities and (b) farmers' sense of security regarding their often de facto property rights. The results suggest that property rights and their alienability in ten-year time matter to intensive infrastructural investments, although not to lighter investments.

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has been widely promoted as an effective and efficient model for conservation; however, few studies have empirically examined how the market-based approach interacts with farmer's decision-making processes and their abilities to sustain new conservation practices. This paper examines the sustainability of a PES silvopastoral programme in Colombia from peasant farmers’ perspectives.

Countries of semi-arid West Africa are experiencing growing populations, expansion of cultivated land and intensification of crop and livestock production an ever-increasing burden on the region's limited natural resources, consequently increasing degradation rates. A broad range of technologies combating degradation currently exist. This paper presents and discusses both traditional techniques as well as modern techniques which are derived from the traditional ones.

Fulani herder and farmer relationships in West Africa have always been troublesome as a result of farmers’ fundamental rejection of the herders’ inroads into their areas and also because of increased competition for available resources. In countries such as Ghana, local and even national campaigns have been launched to expel the herders but they persist.

In the recent past there has been increasing recognition that local knowledge of farmers can yield insight into soil quality. With regard to constraints and possibilities for the production of irrigated rice in the south of Brazil there is no documentation on local soil knowledge. The goals of this study were to answer the following questions: (1) Which soil quality perceptions do rice farmers have? (2) Which soil quality indicators are most important to them?

This paper evaluates, using logistic and multiple regression analyses, the socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt rotational woodlot technology in the farming systems of Uganda, based on a household survey carried out between May and December 2004, involving 120 farmers in Kigorobya sub-county, Hoima district. The analyses demonstrate that farmers make decisions about woodlot technology based on the household and field characteristics.