Sustainable Climate-smart Cropping Combinations for Integrated Production of Crops and Livestock | Chapter 7 | Research Advances and Challenges in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 9

 

Aims: The present study investigated the sustainable climate-smart cropping combinations for the integrated production of crops and livestock.

Background: To improve the productivity of both crops and livestock on smallholder farms, there is a need for the development of integrated farming systems that promote the sustainable use of locally available resources. This can address impediments associated with increasing land degradation and poor productivity of livestock and rural farming enterprises as a result of climate change vulnerabilities.

Study Design: The mother-baby trial design was used, the mother trial being an on-station experiment and the on-farm being a baby trial. The experiment was arranged as a split-plot design. The main plots were 3 types of soil amendments; cattle manure, fertilizer and a control. The subplots were eight (8) crop combinations, arising from velvet bean, cowpea, Rhodes grass and ryegrass.

Place and Duration of Study: The on-station field experiment was located at the Liempe farm of the University of Zambia, in Chongwe district. The on-farm experiments were laid in the Mazabuka and Chibombo districts of Zambia for two consecutive seasons, 2016/17 and 2017/18 cropping seasons.

Methodology: The maize test crop's variable performance served as the basis for measuring the cropping combination responses. Analysis of variance was used to assess the performance of the "crop combination" and soil amendment type. Means were separated using Fisher-protected Least Significant Difference (LSD) at α = 0.05. Principal component analysis (PCA), was also undertaken to further understand responses among crop combinations. Farmers' reactions arising from experimental implementation were qualitatively analysed using content analysis.

Results: Significant differences (P< 0.05) across cropping combinations on measured variables (for maize test crop) were exhibited among soil amendment types at an on-station trial during the 2017/ 18 season. Fertilizer soil amendment type was the best performer followed by manure and the control. Significant differences (P< 0.05) were also obtained among crop combinations across soil amendment types in all experimental sites. Crop combinations with velvet beans performed better than others. Qualitative grass inspection showed that Rhodes grass was a better performer than ryegrass. The observation of fewer maize being attacked by termites in crop combinations with velvet may imply that soils in velvet bean plots were relatively wetter. The visual appearance of soils in velvet bean plots compared to other plots confirmed that they were indeed wet.

Conclusion: Maize grown in combination with legumes particularly velvet beans and Rhodes grass is a viable option as a smallholder farming practice in a changing climate. As a policy guide in sub-Saharan Africa, it’s advisable to recommend and promote the intercropping package of maize, velvet bean and Rhodes grass. This can cushion against or minimize maize yield losses in case of adverse weather conditions, in addition to providing animal feed from Rhodes grass and velvet bean.

 

Author(s)details:-

Langa Tembo
Department of Plant Science, University of Zambia, P.O. Box-32379, Lusaka, Zambia.

 

Lydia M. Chabala
Department of Soil Science, University of Zambia, P.O. Box-32379, Lusaka, Zambia.

 

Pharaoh C. Sianagama
Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, Palabana University, P. O. Box-50199, Lusaka, 10101, Zambia.

 

Please See the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/racas/v9/256

Application of a Multimodal, Multicommodity International Freight Simultaneous Transportation Equilibrium Model to Sultanate of Oman| Chapter 10 | Insights into Economics and Management Vol. 3

 

The prediction of multicommodity freight flows over a multimodal network has attracted much interest in the recent years. An implementation of the International Freight Simultaneous Transportation Equilibrium Model (IFSTEM) that developed in United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), to the goods trade through the ports and lands of Sultanate of Oman is presented. The transportation network is usually modeled in a simplistic way (bipartite network) and these models rely to a large extent on the supply and demand functions of the producers and consumers respectively. Although some socio-economic variables, which are not available, were required for IFSTEM model calibration, some reasonable assumptions were made and it was good enough to draw the following main findings: the proposed alternative enhancement scenarios were four nested scenarios, i.e., each scenario included the previous one plus an additional enhancement. These four enhancement scenarios were analyzed against and compared with scenario (0), i.e., the reference “Do nothing” scenario. The analysis has been achieved in two stages. The first stage involved the prediction of international trade flows (imports, exports and re-exports), times and costs That would benefit from the application throughout the study period through the target year of 2040 of the 4 alternative enhancement scenarios. The results of the forecast show that Oman's projected foreign trade flows (imports, exports and re-exports) have risen by more than 504% by 2040 compared to the current situation in the base year 2012. This rise would reflect about 70 percent by 2040 relative to the "do nothing" reference scenario, assuming that during the study period from 2012 to 2040, the average increase in foreign trade flows in the "do nothing" case would be around 4 percent annually. The estimates of average total travel time and total cost per tonne showed an expected decrease of about 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively, relative to the reference scenario. Compared to the "Do nothing" comparison case, these findings are internally consistent and reflect relatively substantial changes.



Author (s) Details

Dr. Mohamad K. Hasan
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, College of Business Administration, Kuwait University P.O. Box 5486, Safat 13055, Kuwait.

View Book :- https://bp.bookpi.org/index.php/bpi/catalog/book/324