Enset production system diversity across the Southern Ethiopian Highlands
Enset is a staple crop of the southern Ethiopian highlands. Small-holder farmers cultivate enset as part of mixed subsistence farming systems, in which enset provides substantial food security services. While its cultivation is unique to this region, enset production systems take on many forms, varying with environmental and agronomic conditions, crop diversity and (co-)staples produced, the importance of enset for the household, and socio-economic and cultural differences.
BRIEF 2 – Comparative analysis of goat farming systems in Nepal and their mitigation potential: Comparing results from Heifer and non-Heifer supported cooperatives
This brief presents the results of a modelling analysis of goat farming systems from three study sites in Nepal, shedding light on the potential greenhouse gas mitigation potential of improved goat production systems as promoted by Heifer Nepal.
The contributions of scale-appropriate farm mechanization to hunger and poverty reduction: Evidence from smallholder systems in Nepal
Purpose: This study examines the adoption drivers of scale-appropriate mechanization in Nepal's maize-based farming systems. The authors also assess the contribution of scale-appropriate mechanization to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of zero hunger (SDG2) and no poverty (SDG1). Design/methodology/approach: Propensity score matching (PSM) and doubly robust inverse probability-weighted regression adjusted (IPWRA) methods were applied to estimate the effects of mini-tiller adoption.
Participatory action research, social networks, and gender influence soil fertility management in Tanzania
Transformation of knowledge systems and fostering learning among smallholder farmers such as through participatory action research (PAR) is key to agricultural growth in rural sub-Saharan Africa. We investigate how PAR influences uptake/use of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) while accounting for gendered, bonding and bridging social capital. Stratified by engagement in a mother-baby PAR and by resource endowments, 607 smallholder farmers were sampled from northern Tanzania.
Assessing complementary synergies for integrated crop–livestock systems under conservation agriculture in Tunisian dryland farming systems
The aim of this paper is twofold. The first objective is to measure the technical efficiency of mixed crop-livestock (CL) smallholder producers operating under conservation agriculture systems in Tunisian rainfed areas. The second objective is to explore complementarities, synergies, and economies of diversification across the different production system components of these crop-livestock producers using the cross-partial derivative framework of output variables in the distance function.