Agricultural Development and Economic Transformation

Agricultural Development and Economic Transformation
Author: John W. Mellor
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2017-10-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319652591

This book examines the role of agriculture in the economic transformation of developing low- and middle-income countries and explores means for accelerating agricultural growth and poverty reduction. In this volume, Mellor measures by household class the employment impact of alternative agricultural growth rates and land tenure systems, and impact on cereal consumption and food security. The book provides detailed analysis of each element of agricultural modernization, emphasizing the central role of government in accelerated growth in private sector dominated agriculture. The book differs from the bulk of current conventional wisdom in its placement of the non-poor small commercial farmer at the center of growth, and explains how growth translates into poverty reduction. This new book is a follow up to Mellor’s classic, prize-winning text, The Economics of Agricultural Development. Listed as a Best Books of 2017: Economics by Financial Times.

World Development Report 2008

World Development Report 2008
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2007-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821368095

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. 'World Development Report 2008' seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the 'World Development Report'.

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2019-04-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309473926

For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Agriculture
Author: Ajoy Kumar Singh
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 519
Release: 2020-05-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 100052745X

This new volume looks at the evolution and challenges of sustainable agriculture, a field that is growing in use and popularity, discussing some of the important ideas, practices, and policies that are essential to an effective sustainable agriculture strategy. The book features 25 chapters written by experts in crop improvement, natural resource management, crop protection, social sciences, and product development. The volume provides a good understanding of the use of sustainable agriculture and the sustainable management of agri-horticultural crops, focusing on eco-friendly approaches, such as the utilization of waste materials. Topics include ecofriendly plant protection measures, climate change and natural resource management, tools to mitigate the effect of extreme weather events, agrochemical research and regulation, soil carbon sequestration, water and nutrient management in agricultural systems, and more. Key features: Discusses sustainable agriculture within the framework of recent challenges in agriculture Looks at the development and diversification of crops and cultural practices to enhance biological and economic stability Discusses innovative nanotechnologies in research and production technologies Highlights the development of new varieties in agri-horticultural crops Discusses use of recent technologies for soil–plant–microbe–environment interactions.

From Food Scarcity to Surplus

From Food Scarcity to Surplus
Author: Ashok Gulati
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2021-02-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9811594848

This book brings together unique experiences of India, China and Israel in overcoming economic, social, and natural resource challenges. Through its eleven chapters, the book captures the role of groundbreaking innovations in achieving unprecedented agricultural growth and stabilizing these nations. It provides a future outlook of the new challenges that will confront these countries in 2030 and beyond, related to tackling food and nutrition security, sustainable agricultural growth and adhering to improved food safety standards. This book provides useful insights for exploring technological innovations and policies that can address these future challenges and develop profitable and sustainable agriculture. This volume also highlights valuable lessons that India, China and Israel provide for the rest of the developing world where population is growing fast; natural resources are limited; and it is a challenge to produce enough food, feed and fibre for their populations. Tracing the historical past, this book is an impressive resource for academicians, policymakers, practitioners, agribusiness players, entrepreneurs in understanding the role of innovations in addressing future challenges.

Deep Learning for Sustainable Agriculture

Deep Learning for Sustainable Agriculture
Author: Ramesh Chandra Poonia
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2022-01-09
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0323903622

The evolution of deep learning models, combined with with advances in the Internet of Things and sensor technology, has gained more importance for weather forecasting, plant disease detection, underground water detection, soil quality, crop condition monitoring, and many other issues in the field of agriculture. agriculture. Deep Learning for Sustainable Agriculture discusses topics such as the impactful role of deep learning during the analysis of sustainable agriculture data and how deep learning can help farmers make better decisions. It also considers the latest deep learning techniques for effective agriculture data management, as well as the standards established by international organizations in related fields. The book provides advanced students and professionals in agricultural science and engineering, geography, and geospatial technology science with an in-depth explanation of the relationship between agricultural inference and the decision-support amenities offered by an advanced mathematical evolutionary algorithm. - Introduces new deep learning models developed to address sustainable solutions for issues related to agriculture - Provides reviews on the latest intelligent technologies and algorithms related to the state-of-the-art methodologies of monitoring and mitigation of sustainable agriculture - Illustrates through case studies how deep learning has been used to address a variety of agricultural diseases that are currently on the cutting edge - Delivers an accessible explanation of artificial intelligence algorithms, making it easier for the reader to implement or use them in their own agricultural domain

Advances in Organic Farming

Advances in Organic Farming
Author: Vijay Singh Meena
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128223596

Advances in Organic Farming: Agronomic Soil Management Practices focuses on the integrated interactions between soil-plant-microbe-environment elements in a functioning ecosystem. It explains sustainable nutrient management under organic farming and agriculture, with chapters focusing on the role of nutrient management in sustaining global ecosystems, the remediation of polluted soils, conservation practices, degradation of pollutants, biofertilizers and biopesticides, critical biogeochemical cycles, potential responses for current and impending environmental change, and other critical factors. Organic farming is both challenging and exciting, as its practice of "feeding the soil, not the plant provides opportunity to better understand why some growing methods are preferred over others. In the simplest terms, organic growing is based on maintaining a living soil with a diverse population of micro and macro soil organisms. Organic matter (OM) is maintained in the soil through the addition of compost, animal manure, green manures and the avoidance of excess mechanization. - Presents a comprehensive overview of recent advances and new developments in the field OF research within a relevant theoretical framework - Highlights the scope of the inexpensive and improved management practices - Focuses on the role of nutrient management in sustaining the ecosystems

Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture

Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture
Author: Salim Lamine
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2023-10-20
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0323914640

Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture: Transforming Scientific Advancement into Innovation compiles the latest applications of remote sensing in agriculture using spaceborne, airborne and drones' geospatial data. The book presents case studies, new algorithms and the latest methods surrounding crop sown area estimation, determining crop health status, assessment of vegetation dynamics, crop diseases identification, crop yield estimation, soil properties, drone image analysis for crop damage assessment, and other issues in precision agriculture. This book is ideal for those seeking to explore and implement remote sensing in an effective and efficient manner with its compendium of scientifically and technologically sound information. - Presents a well-integrated collection of chapters, with quality, consistency and continuity - Provides the latest RS techniques in Precision Agriculture that are addressed by leading experts - Includes detailed, yet geographically global case studies that can be easily understood, reproduced or implemented - Covers geospatial data, with codes available through shared links

Darwinian Agriculture

Darwinian Agriculture
Author: R. Ford Denison
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2016-08-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691173761

Harnessing evolution for more sustainable agriculture As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. Darwinian Agriculture presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. R. Ford Denison shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends. Denison explains why plant traits that have been genetically optimized by individual selection—such as photosynthesis and drought tolerance—are bad candidates for genetic improvement. Traits like plant height and leaf angle, which determine the collective performance of plant communities, offer more room for improvement. Agriculturalists can also benefit from more sophisticated comparisons among natural communities and from the study of wild species in the landscapes where they evolved. Darwinian Agriculture reveals why it is sometimes better to slow or even reverse evolutionary trends when they are inconsistent with our present goals, and how we can glean new ideas from natural selection's marvelous innovations in wild species.

Sustainable Intensification

Sustainable Intensification
Author: Jules N. Pretty
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1136529276

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.