Category: hydroponic growing

All the variances were statistically significant at 95% confidence level during the analysis. The factor loadings are labeled on arrows from the latent variables to their respective variables, whiles the path coefficients, β are on the paths from one latent variable to another. The model fit indices listed in Table 5 asserts that the observed research model’s goodness-of-fit was satisfactory. The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that encourage the youth to champion agricultural farming in Ghana. Using the Exploratory Factor Analysis, the study implemented factors such as motivation, technology, economics,and external government policies that presumed to have significant effects on youth farming. Figure 2 gives the graphical representation of these relationships.The study observed that among the hypotheses which were significant to the effective assessments of the factors toward youth farming, technology accounts for a greater portion of the variance explained. Thus, signifying technology as a major determining factor that influences youth farming.

We observe that technology has a positive significant relationship with youth farming, 4×8 flood tray which means that technology has a direct influence on youth going into farming which toes the line of initial expectation. Researchers such as Bacco et al. ,  and Yuet al. ,  also confirmed technology’s influence on youth and farming.Also, there was a statistically significant association between government policies and youth farming . As presented in Figure 2; government policies equally have a direct influence on youth opting to farm. Tanko, confirmed that external activities such as government policies, religion, culture,and the like directly influence youth farming.Furthermore, the relationship between motivation and youth farming was surprisingly not significant, in statistical terms. The authors discovered that the indicators for motivation were basically concerned about intrinsic motivation, other than the general motivation which would have given an unswerving influence on the youth farm, as was expected by the authors . It should be worth noticing that some indicators of government policy account for extrinsic kind of motivation which talks about incentive packages to entice the youth to engage in agricultural farming. Supported by Damba et al., motivation influence people’s behavior, especially the youth, to go into the variable providing the source of motivation.

The result denotes that the relationship between economic and youth farming is not statistically significant, ebb flow tray yet the interaction of economic factors with motivation increases the absolute total effect of motivation on youth farming. This means that when the youth is intrinsically motivated, their economic status will boost their interest in farming and researchers such as Saiz-rubio,  confirmed economic progress inspires the youth to practice agriculture. The youth are expected to be more inclined hence more likely when there is an ideal financial situation.In addition, other variables such as attitude and knowledge though have no direct influence on youth farming; they moderate significantly on technology application in farming to drive the youth to have interest in agricultural farming.Finally, besides the previously discussed factors, other indicators such as the number of family members engaged in farming , predominant occupation of the locals, the level of education of the youth,and the availability of white-collar job or unemployment rate, among others have a great influence on the youth’s involvement in farming.

This contemporary study analyses four empirical factors such as technology,motivation, economic and government policies impact on youth farming. Still, other factors such as motivation, economic and governmental policies equally have encouraged the youth. The application and integration of these factors have been extensively accepted as the key elements that inspired youth to go into farming efficiently and effectively. The main result of the analyses shows their integration roles cannot be underestimated.Technology was identified as a universal modern approach for the current generation of youth, who can use technology to accomplish a greater solution to humanity’s food insecurity, especially on the African continent.

This is contrary to the expectation that such households’ heads would use their farming experience in promoting appropriate strategies on adaptation to rainfall variability. This may be associated with decrease in interest in adaptation after long years of farming without much improvement. Since 2006, food prices have continued to rise, extending problems such as riots, famine, and malnourished population growth; on the other hand, according to the 2014 report of the United Nations Climate Change Commission (IPCC),climate change is also impacting food, and human security is a big crisis for Taiwan that depends on imports of food. According to the information of the Agricultural Committee of the Executive Yuan, Taiwan’s food self-sufficiency rate in 2017 was 32.2% . If Taiwan continues to rely on imports, failure to find a solution will have a significant impact on Taiwan’s economic development and social stability.Agriculture is the foundation of region’s industry, but Taiwan’s agriculture is facing severe challenges of arable land loss, aging rural labor force, and climatic and environmental changes.

Therefore, the industry, government, and academia are all looking for solutions,mobile vertical farm including excellent agriculture, technology agriculture,and leisure agriculture. Taking leisure agriculture as an example, consumer contact can give consumers more opportunities to learn about the characteristics and advantages of local agricultural products. And then use and consume local agricultural products, which is an essential opportunity for the sustainable development of Taiwan’s agriculture . The Department of Leisure Agriculture combines natural landscape and ecological resources in the agricultural environment ,agricultural production (process), agricultural and fishery products, rural culture, humanities and arts, rural facilities, tourism, and other resources to develop new services with leisure functions industry. This means that the “Leisure” products or services it provides must be based on “Agriculture”.In recent years, the issues related to “food farmers”, “food security” and “food education” have been valued by the people.

The industrialized food production and sales methods have caused many problems, including human health and the ecological environment. The problem of “food safety” has gradually emerged, making developed countries realize the importance of food security. The national social awareness of agriculture has gradually reversed. The requirements for the source control of agricultural products and dietary safety have also increased . The concept has taken root and spread to schools and families, teaching the importance of traceability of ingredients. Leisure agriculture should be able to provide fresh, hygienic, and safe agricultural products to meet the needs of repairers. Conserve natural ecological landscapes,vertical farming racks conserve water sources, regulate the microclimate, and improve the environment in which people live and provide another need for urban social and cultural life. The three functions of production, ecology, and life, such as leisure agriculture, farming culture, and folk culture tourism, can provide consumers with agricultural knowledge education and demonstration functions.Tuan once put forward the viewpoint of the economics of experience of leisure agriculture, thinking that to experience the fun of doing it yourself, “experience”and “feel” become commercial products that can be sold.

Consumers’ internal psychological feelings come from personal.The interaction of mood and events, and through the design and operation of agricultural experience activities,can increase the sales opportunities of individual farm products. Leisure agriculture is based on life and situation, shaping the sensory experience and thinking identification, and finding new survival value and space for commodities.Allow visitors to experience special agricultural production activities, such as picking vegetables and fruits, making tea, feeding, fishing, agricultural products processing, etc.; the industry persuaded consumers to pay for the experience with carefully designed situations. At the same time, more and more consumers are willing to spend money to buy the experience. However, after two or thirty years of development, the design of experiential activities has gradually entered into rigid imprisonment.

The soil quality in the upper portion is loosened and infertile during prolonged heat, extreme rainfall and La Nino while it becomes dusty and cracked during extreme heat. During extreme rainfall and prolonged rainfall, the soil becomes wetter and loosened and in the upper portion of the Mt. Isarog watershed area, the soil are carried away making the soil less fertile in the upper portion and more fertile in the lower portion of the watershed area. The effect of extreme heat to soil quality is similar to the upper and lower portion of Mt. Isarog giving similar impacts to crops particularly to vegetables and rice. Abaca,coconuts and root crops which are more abundant in the upper portion are not affected by the cracking of soil because their roots are deep and they can still absorb water from the underground. The early onset of rain improves soil quality in the upper Isarog and favors the planting for all kinds of crops but the soil in the lower portion is muddy making the soil unfavorable for planting. During LaNina,strawberry gutter system lots of soil are washed out in the upper portion but soil quality in the lower portion of the watershed area is better.

A few of them also grow root crops but just the same root crops are also affected by the cracking and dryness of the land. This poor soil quality affects production for the inability of the crops to absorb water and the nutrients. The upland area is likewise affected by the cracking and drying of the soil particularly the root crops grown in Abucayan, Tagongtong, and Pinaglabanan,The coconuts and abaca grown in Hiwacloy and Digidgon are also affected by the extreme heat but because they have deep rooting system, they can surviveat this season. Coconuts, abaca and root crops can survive and are resilient to extreme rainfall so farmers of this kind are not affected.The upland farmers favor the advent of extreme rainfall because most of their crops are rain dependent and excessive water is not actually felt is the area because water flows freely downhill. Only the vegetables and rice farmers in the lowland area are the most affected by the oversupply of water. Vegetables and rice farmers in the upland area still favors the extreme rainfall. As observed,farmers in both the upland and lowland watershed area lack the farming technologies and innovations to help them cope with extreme weather like the use of mulching, aquaculture, hydroponics, micro-irrigation system, rainwater harvester and similar modern agriculture practices.

Farmers may be provided with technical knowledge on soil quality to help them understand better soil quality and how to deal with them in moments of climate variability. The impact of extreme heat is more felt in the upland area than in the lowland area. Root crops, hydroponic fodder system abaca and coconuts which are mostly grown in the upland area are favorable to upland famers because of better production indicating a better income to upland farmers. But for the lowland farmers, vegetable farming is not advisable at this climatic condition because of poor yield and low income. Rice farming has no income at all. This impact is true to both the lowland and upland farmers but the greater negative impact is experienced in the upland areas.

The negative impact of the typhoon is observed in both the lowland and upland area. But the upland farmers are more vulnerable. Whereas, the delay onset of rainy days has no effect on all kinds of crops in both the upland and lowland area. The income of the farmers in the upper portion of Mt. Isarogis affected both positively and negatively. While some farmers like the abaca,coconut and vegetable farmers are earning good income from their crops, the root crop farmers are losing their income due to the poor growth and quality product of the crops. During El Nino, the same effect is true to vegetables and upland rice farmers. The lowland rice farmers still enjoy the benefit of good harvest and good income at this climate condition.The impact of extreme heat is more observed in the upper portion of Mt. Isarog affecting abaca, coconuts and vegetables but not to root crops like camote . In the lowland area, the negative impact of extreme heat is more evident to vegetables and rice due to pest infestation and scarcity of water.

The western Sudan contributes significantly to the livestock production in Sudan. This region contains three important sub-systems of livestock. They migrate and move from the North to the South throughout the year, seeking good grazing and water points. They migrate to the south in the dry season when the rains stop and the areas are still favorable for better pastoral conditions. During the rainy season, herders migrate to the north when the conditions in the south become extremely wet coupled with the spread of insects and diseases. In this sub-farming system, no crop cultivation is practiced,nft growing system and herders depend on the market to satisfy their consumption and other needs.Until recently, it was rare in the southern parts of North Kordofan State to have conflicts concerning the competition over the natural resources . The second sub-system exhibits a similar directional movement of nomadicherders.

The transhumant practice crop cultivation in specific areas along their direction of movement. In this case, part of the family members remains behind to take care of crop cultivation. The sedentary is the third subsystem,in which farmers settle in villages and practice the traditional system of crop cultivation and livestock raising as well as engage in off-farm activities .Therefore, the most significant activity in North Kordofan State besides the cultivation of crops is grazing livestock.Good performance of livestock populations is determined by the amount of crop residues and the richness of the natural pasture system. The contribution of desert sheep to Sudan’s GNP is estimated at about 70%. This reveals a possibility to improve and develop the pastoral system in western Sudan as it plays a vital role in Sudan’s trade and export market.The local herds in North Kordofan State consist of sheep (the most numerous), camels (the most valued), and goats, although the large cattle herds are not commonly owned by local pastoralists. Cattle herds are more important in South Kordofan State, and they move to North Kordofan State only during the rainy season (grazing settlements).

The statistical data of livestock exhibited a disparity in the number of livestock in different localities in the state from 2003 to 2011 (see Figure 7). The figure shows the increase in the numbers of all livestock,vertical hydroponic nft system from 2003 to 2006, albeit there was a huge reduction in the number of sheep from 2007 to 2011 compared with2005 and 2006. The large numbers of livestock being raised in the North Kordofan State is attributed to the higher potential of the pastoral system. The food consumption pattern is symbolized as one of the important features of food and nutrition security for individuals and communities as well. The dominant local food for the majority of the population in Sudan as well as in North Kordofan State is cereal foods. The average food basket consists of cereal foods (millet or sorghum),pulses (cowpeas, lentils), oil crops (peanuts), meat, milk, dried okra, onions, vegetable oil, and sugar. In this context, Figure 8 shows the food consumption pattern and the share of different food groups in both rural and urban areas of North Kordofan State during the period 2002-2003.

The consumption of cereal food in North Kordofan State is about 30% and 51% of the total food group consumed in urban and rural areas, respectively. The cereal foods contribute about 43% and 57% to the total daily per capita caloric intake in both urban and rural areas, respectively as reported by . This was expected since most of the people in agricultural areas consumed what they usually produce on their farm. The western Sudan is well-known for its higher potential of natural resources. Yet, this area has experienced a higher deterioration in its natural resources due to drought that affecting the farming and pastoral system .Besides decreasing the productivity of food crops, it emerges that the cereal foods of millet and sorghum characterized by higher prices in the local markets. The erratic rainfall and its greater variation in its distribution as well as poor storage capacity are also influenced the food security. The destruction of the environment and the spread of pests and diseases particularly during the storage process are distressing the crop output.

These policies encourage many farmers to purchase and use pesticides on their farms with little or no knowledge of the safe use and management of pesticides.The same situation was also found in Buea, where small-scale tomato farmers identify a high dependency on different formulations and combinations of pesticides as the major means to control pest and plant diseases on their farms.Some farmers still practice the traditional methods of applying a mix of wood ash, animal droppings, and water to their crops, removing weeds with hands, cutlasses and hoes, and harvesting what is left after pests and diseases infestation at the end of each planting season. These traditional farming practices are not common inBuea.Insects have been identified as a major hindrance to tomato production in this area . Buea farmers are very aware of the damages caused by pests to tomato production which has led to almost all small-scale farmers to use pesticides as the major means to control pests and plant diseases. Unfortunately, no Buea farmer was able to identify receiving any formal training on the suitable choices of pesticides and their proper application.

This leads to concerns that many farmers use the chemicals incorrectly and unsafely which are supported by this study.Pesticides are expensive, especially for small-scale farmers. The use of pesticides has been encouraged by pesticide vendors who divide pesticides into small sachets and containers which are sold to the farmers without labeling . This practice is worrisome for correct and safe use of pesticides is extremely important and the directions on the label are essential to providing information addressing safe and effective pesticide use. Many countries mandate that pesticides are labeled with required instructions and warnings.In the analytic rating game, the farmers identified 28 pesticides being used with insecticides being most used and herbicides least used.This lower herbicide use may be the result of farmers able to manually weed their farms with their family members or friends using hands,4×8 flood tray cutlasses and hoes on the smaller farms.Most Buea farmers (83.8%) anticipate pest infestations and began spraying the plants from the nursery to few weeks after transplanting. This practice shows that the farmers target any organisms that may pose as threat to the tomatoes. The problem is that natural organisms are killed which benefit the ecosystem, including earthworms which render the soil airy and ease water and other minerals absorption in the crops.A concerning finding was that almost 95.0% of Buea farmers used indiscriminate chemical combinations with repeated application of pesticides in hope of acquiring rapid and improved results.

Yet, some of these combinations have been shown to facilitate the development of pest resistance to the chemicals , as well as building toxic residues in plants, vegetables and fruits which could also pose a health threat to consumers. In Ghana,these practices have been found to have left insecticide residue in vegetables .A knapsack sprayer (83.8%) was the main pesticide application equipment used by the famers. But, only39.8% of farmers were able to afford a knapsack. The other farmers must depend on either renting or borrowing this equipment from friends. Those farmers having no access to sprayers (16.1%) use hand sprinkling by improvising methods of attaching brushes, mesh, leaves of plants on a wooden short stick to sprinkle their pesticides after mixing in an open container (bucket or bowl).It is important to keep knapsack sprayers in good condition and operating properly. Sprayers have been known to spill or leak, especially when overused on rotational bases. An association has been shown between knapsack leakages and human health effects  . Toxic residues on the skin and clothes can cause acute pesticide poisoning.

The closed and open-ended questions were given to key informants and households grouped in agricultural and beekeeping cooperatives. The data were analyzed with the support of SPSS . In general, the survey was designed to know the impact of agricultural practices on honey production, and potential impact of pesticides and inorganic fertilizer to bees. The observations on field were conducted several times, in order to identify beepers, agriculturists in surrounding areas and their location, key factors to include such as socio-economic and environment aspect,taking notes and recording data. In Village of Gakeli, Kavumu Cell in Ruhango Sector, about 51 respondents were beekeepers formed UNICOAPIGI cooperative and 73 were farmers grouped in Njyambere agricultural cooperative who use great amount of pesticides, such as Lambdabex, Rocket and inorganic fertilizers, Diamonium Phosphate and Urea to raise corn crops, which affect honey productivity and also the findings of Gary , illustrated the effect of applying the methamidophosin agriculture at rate of 14 g/ha  in alfalfa field caused honey reduction.

In addition, the 73 farmers identified depended on the farming activities with application of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers to raise the corn yields through JYAMBERE cooperative in Kagondero Village, Rukaragata Cell in Kigeyo and the plot size owned by household farmers was less than 0.5 hectares.With comparison to the District report of National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, about 78% of population are farmers with plot size less than 0.3 hectares and the 49% of income are generated from agriculture and these results showed the effort of human interaction with the nature in terms of exploitation of the environment and also previous researches reported on the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services illustrated that around 25% of the plant and animal species were threatened with extinction,mobile vertical farm as the result of anthropogenic activity . The necessity for income between beekeepers and farmers in the study area created the form of land competition where the beekeepers were the most vulnerable due to the decline of honey production resulted from pesticide application.

As 73 were household farmers contacted, 75.78% of them reported that they used pesticides and fertilizers to carry out their agricultural activities and this is in line with the strategies of the district for consolidating the land where about to 80% of arable land are consolidated with intention of increasing the rate of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in the District. In addition, 5 staff from local Government and management of the Gishwati Forest national park provided the adequate information on the threats that caused the decline of honey production. They pointed on the usage of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers by focusing on the positive correlation existing between high yield of agricultural crops and inputs. Table 1 illustrated that after 2008 year,the quantity of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides were started to be applied as a new strategy to raise corn production and in 2000 year the quantity of chemical fertilizers applied was 0 Kg whereas pesticides used was 0 Litres with 1508 Kg of honey yield. In general the quantity of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers increased within timeframe, therefore in 2018 year the quantity reached 9856 Kgfor inorganic fertilizers and 98.55 liters for pesticides with shrinking in honey production to 596 Kg .

The climatic characteristics in Sokode, with the annual rainfall minima of 964.5 mm, the maxima of 1645.1 mm, and the averages of 1270.49 mm, do not favor the occurrence of the dense forests. According to Chevalier the dense forest occurrence requires a minimum annual rainfall of 1500 mm distributed all over the year, and a dry season less than three months . However, the dense forest occurs in patches within the savanna ecosystem. This dense forest predominate the savannas in the lower latitude like in the Prefecture of Blitta, as well as at the rivers and water streams’ banks.The area presents a great potential for ecological biodiversity. In fact, an inventory of protected areas in 1993 , recorded 14 protected areas covering a total of 252,087 ha. In addition, the region hosts two of the major protected areas of the country including the protected area of Fazao and that of Aboudlye. At the economic stand points, the Central region along with the Plateaus region of the country supply wood to satisfy the national demand and for exportation. The agriculture is the major economic activity. This small holding agriculture is practiced in shifting cultivation, and in rotation of crops from one year to another.

Although an opportunistic aquatic pathogen, it has been isolated from vegetables, meat, milk, and their derivates.Several studies have shown that this species is resistant to commercial antibiotics by genetic mutations  owing to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in fish breeding and other aquatic food products. Since A. hydrophila is resistant to antimicrobial agents and frequently occurs in food, it is a threat to public health .Martineli et al.   assessed bovine carcasses in the state of Sao Paulo,Brazil, and reported that 38 out of 285 samples were positive for Aeromonas spp.Antimicrobial resistance tests revealed that all isolates were resistant to ampicillin and cephalexin. Resistance to antimicrobial agents is a concern, because, in the case of Aeromonas spp., their indiscriminate use may lead to the development of multidrug-resistant bacteria. In addition, several species are pathogenic to humans. In this specific analysis, the authors focused on the care that must be taken to overcome the occurrence of A. caviae , the most prevalent in the study and one of the species defined in the literature as an etiological agent of gastroenteritisin humans.

A study conducted in the types of cheese showed total multidrug resistance to 15 antimicrobial agents in Aeromonas spp. isolates.These findings suggest concern due to threats to public health .Clinical investigations conducted in Malaysia evidenced resistance to antimicrobial agents by the genus Aeromonas . A study by Odeyemi & Ahmad , in2015, on Aeromonas strains retrieved from aquatic environments showed a pattern of multi-resistance between isolates and 21 different phenotypes. Among the antimicrobial agents analyzed, ampicillin, novobiocine,stackable planters sulfamethoxazole,and trimethoprim resistance was noted in all the isolates. They are sensitive to other antimicrobial agents such as tetracycline. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics may have caused the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria of the genus Aeromonas . The above constitutes a public health issue, since these species are pathogenic for humans and aquatic animals Furthermore,as several Aeromonas species are pathogenic and may cause diarrhea, they should be included in routine bacteriological tests .In Israel, a study evaluated the prevalence and virulence of Aeromonas by using molecular methods by analyzing 1033 samples of diarrheal feces. The etiological agent was identified to be Aeromonas spp. in 17 samples by using rpo Dgene sequencing.

The first clinical record of diarrhea by A. taiwanensis was identified in other species. The species were resistant to betalactam antibiotics,with susceptibility to third-generation cephalosporin antibiotics.A. caviae showed the highest resistance rate . A. caviaeis a pathogenic strain for humans, and its presence in contaminated water and food may cause gastroenteritis mainly in children and immuno suppressed individuals.In Mumbai, India, 154 ready food samples were analyzed for Aeromonas spp.during a 2-year period . The study identified the bacterium in 18 samples, including 22 Aeromonas isolates of seven different species.Since the isolated strains of Aeromonas were positive for virulence factors with high antimicrobial resistance potential, they were a risk to the health of individuals who consumed contaminated raw or cooked food products .Aeromonas strains are known for their increased capacity to acquire and exchange antibiotic resistance genes. There is a strong correlation between aquaculture,Aeromonas diversity, and antibiotic resistance. In addition, robust links exist between the prophylactic and systemic use of antibiotics in aquaculture and the propagation of resistance to antibiotics Resolution 357, published in 2005, states that thermo tolerant coliforms should not exceed 1000 thermo tolerant coliforms/100 ml in water for aquaculture and fishing activity.There is no legislation for total coliform limits in fish.However, the presence of this group in food should be investigated to guarantee the sanitary quality of fish. This mandates the implementation of control measures Aeromonas are pathogenic bacteria classified as emerging ones by the WHO.Studies have revealed that Brazilian legislation fails to establish parameters for the identification or quantification of Aeromonas for research involving food and water.

Soil texture of the rice field was slowly transforming from loam to sandy loam and loamy sand in lower depths below 0.8 – 1 m. Pond was thus draining quickly after every rainfall. In 2013, pond received runoff to almost its full capacity twice but in 2014, it received only once due to lower storm rainfall. However, waterway, pond and rice field channels assured additional water availability to the crop and zero runoff from the watershed. The incoming colloidal sediments with runoff in the pond are expected to clog soil pores with time allowing water to stay for longer time. Part of the sediments received in the pond could also be used as manure in the rice field or elsewhere as necessary. Seepage from An seba river, runoff stored in the pond and irrigation channels and wetness in the rice plots raised groundwater table in the rice field from 3.25 m depth in June end to 1.4 m by 4th week of August, which receded down to 1.7 m by crop maturity . Rate of rise of water table was faster than receding. The water table rose by 1.85 m in about 48 days but receded only 0.3 m in next 75 days.

The water table was oscillating within1.5 ± 0.1 m for about 2 months during grand growth to reproductive stages of rice crop.The shallow groundwater table greatly affected wetness in the root zone. Soil water content in the third week of September showed upward gradient . Whereas surface soil was dry forming cracks, soil wetness below 0.7 m depth was near field capacity and was increasing with depth . Roots of NERICA rice were observed down to 0.8 m and, therefore, parts of the rice roots were receiving water by capillarity from the fluctuating water table and the crop was greener until October . The rising groundwater table due to combined effect of water level in the river and percolation from the pond and rice field may serve as a natural source of sub-irrigation to the rice crop. The crop was harvested in November first week. Although practices to minimize high percolation from rice fields were known and possibilities of runoff farming existed in Eritrea , no systematic efforts were made to cultivate rice due to fear of its high water requirements,nft hydroponic system inadequate rainfall and highly permeable soils. Some experiments were conducted by National Agricultural Research Institution , Eritrea, using NERICA varieties, but conclusions were discouraging. On the contrary, experiments at Hamelmalo Agricultural College under rainfed and life-saving irrigations showed encouraging results . NERICA is a cross of African  and Asian rice ,which has been successfully grown in Africa under limited irrigation conditions  Inadequate rainfall in Eritrea can be supplemented by runoff harvested as additional water for crop use from >82%non-agricultural lands in the watersheds.

Objective of this study was to optimize soil compaction and puddling intensity to reduce percolation loss and irrigation requirements of rice under semiarid conditions of Hamelmalo. The farm has inputs and outputs.For the purposes of this proposal,inputs are simplified as time, money, and energy; outputs are simplified as produce,heat, and manure. Time and money are considered the conventional costs of production , while energy is the actual caloric input ; produce is the commodity that the farm is producing , while heat and manure are byproducts. Water may be assumed to input with energy and output with manure.In this paper, the example used is of meat production, which for time, money ,and energy outputs meat, heat, and manure. The efficiencies analyzed will be optimized in terms of money  vs. Calories .While “money” and “Calories” are not listed as a farm outputs, they do serve as inputs and are therefore appropriate units to use in analyzing efficiency,representing how much useful input can be extracted from a given system’s output. In order to ensure that manure is valued as a nutritious compost, the appropriate metric must be used in optimizing the farming process. If an inappropriate metricis used, farming methods will be optimized without regard to useful recycling of energy outputs, and the value of manure can drop until it becomes a hazard:Public health threats, such as antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureī like MRSA, fecal streptococci and coliforms,and Escherichia coli , have been linked with factory farm nutrient outflows. It has also been shown that carrots and lettuce will uptake tetracycline and amoxicillin, further devaluing manure of the factory farm, making it less likely that the waste is to be recycled for useful applications.Antibiotic-impregnated feed can be avoided by keeping livestock in healthy pastures with shelter: a low-stress, clean environment where exercise is possible and nutritious diet available This harnesses animals’ own immune systems to combat infectious diseases. On pasture, manure is a valuable resource that is recycled to fertilize subsequent years’ vegetation.

It raises queries on gains and losses in terms of maintenance of water quality, biodiversity, carbon storage, pest control, pollinators and predators, fisheries and ecotourism in agricultural landscapes. Thus future revolution agricultural productivity must work on the principles of PAR that incorporates accumulated knowledge of ecological processes and feedbacks, disease dynamics, soil processes and beneficial microbial functions . A cyclical approach of PAR is promising in situation, which involves diversity of active stakeholders in research and as agents of positive change. The cyclic process of PAR includes observational, reflective thinking, experimental actions and coevolution through network reciprocity . The duality of the PAR is important to create positive social and environmental change contributing essentially to scientific knowledge gain to stakeholders. It facilitates strategic and potential expansion of PAR linkages among the communities, organizations, researchers and development of network for mutual learning.

However, long- term sustenance of the PAR cycle is challenge by itself due to changing priorities of the stakeholders and re-searchers. It is one of the drawbacks which may add skeptic view to PAR oriented approach to agro-ecological development initiatives. Many options may be created by asking questions in the initiation stage of the PAR process to make the PAR activity adaptable. The relevant questions may range from level of participation, powers of participants, gender issues, caste discrimintions, social roles of participants within the communities, social skills of scientific researchers and interactive forces operating at spatial,grow table geographic and political scales . In PAR approach, much importance need to be paid to benefit the adaptive management strategies  in natural resource management.The typology and the degree of relationship has been suggested  based on participation at the level of 1) Collegial— trust based relationship where researchers work in close association with local stakeholders to strengthen their research, developmental capacities and practice advocacy; 2) Collaborative—a direct collaboration between re-searchers and stakeholder with realizable objective/s; 3) Consultative—researcher orients his approach to need based solving of problem of the stakeholder/s; and 4) Contractual—service oriented contract between the re-searcher and stakeholder . All these relationships can be operational at one time, however need empowerment of local communities of their social capital aiming at positive change as a long and negotiated process .

The uneven power relationships, conflicts, rivalry, multi-ple cultures, caste based discrepancies operate while building PAR for agro-ecological sustainability. Environmental sociology is increasingly becoming in-dispensable in restoration of ecological functions. By definition environmental sociology is “complex symbolic and non-symbolic reciprocal interactions between society and environment, which are influenced by the cultural and social behavior while interacting with the physical and biological elements” . Agricultural landscapes provide ideal systems for environmental perspective analysis of development as human-well being holds the key to sustainability. Agricultural extension is recognized approach for lab-to-land dissemination of research output to farming communities. It fails to consider farm level innovations, which have not been documented but practiced in isolation. In such situation, PAR is best suited to operate in both direction with extension and learning the lessons from traditional experimental farming by the stakeholders. In this view, experts and farmers are guided by a knowledge interest in “technical power of control over an environment” and perceive their participation in environment as a sphere of instrumental rationality. Accordingly the farmers will have habitualized the laws of environment as behavioral rules. Indeed, co-evolution and network reciprocity of the farmers must be characterized as all human knowledge of environment is inevitably tied to the interest in ecological sustenance. Hence, environmental sociology perspective at farm level could be used to reconstruct the theoretical basis for sustain-able development of agricultural landscapes.

There is need for paradigm shift in extension activities and PAR to analyze the current situation and circumstantial changes to agricultural landscapes. Thus far the principles of extension have been aimed at increasing the productivity, which theoretically might negatively impact the sustainability of agricultural landscapes. PAR principles provide a basis for such an approach in the current theory of establishment of farm level sustainability and economic viability of production systems. Thus the meaning of sustainability assumes conservation and capacitating the farming communities through PAR to maintain the ecological services to achieve the new paradigm shift in productive agricultural landscapes. The concept of sustainability and economic rationality seem become inseparable and having their own legitimacy in agricultural landscapes.

While Baganda people have little knowledge of pollination,human communities living in most other ecological zones of Uganda have a good knowledge of pollination. In fact, during a study conducted in western part of Uganda , it was realized that communities  living in the mountainous region bordering Bwindi Impenetrable forest and Mgahinga Gorilla forest national parks were aware of the value pollinators. Most farmers interviewed from that region new how to manage their lands to care for pollinators . Farmers from that region had 5 to 15 beehives each while in central Uganda few farmers own beehives. Bee-keeping is not a common farming practice in central Uganda whereas in western part of the region, it is one of the lucrative activities providing income to farmers. Hence, knowledge of pollination by bees is advanced in west part of the country. Additionally Baganda people were incapable of differentiating bees from other insects. Batwa people had local names for different species of stingless bees.

Different stingless bee species have distinct names according to Batwa nomen-clature: Maranga , Obwiza , Obugashu , Obuzagali  and Obuganza . It was there after assumed that the high level of knowledge pollinator species and pollination by human communities from western part of Uganda may be linked to the fact that their agricultural systems is largely depending on inputs including pollination and fertilizers. Overall, the increase in level of knowledge of pollination by farmers seems following a gradient from the edge of Lake Victoria to Western part of the country. Differences in perceptions and knowledge of pollination constitute a major obstacle in farmer–researcher cooperation and collaboration which is necessary for sustainable management of pollination services in rural farmlands. The aim of this study was to understand knowledge and perceptions of the importance of pollinators and pollination services in coffee production. Farmers’ perceptions were investigated in order to harness their knowledge in the participatory development of conservation strategies of pollination services. Findings indicated that farmers’ awareness of pollinator importance in coffee yield increase was extremely low and gender biased with males having high knowledge than females.

One of the greatest challenges for the conservation of Apoidea fauna in farmlands of central Uganda is the great ignorance of the role played by bees in crop production enhancement including coffee. Ironically,vertical grow table small scale farmers in central Uganda are involved in all activities related to the destruction and conservation of natural resources. Obviously, farmers can play significant role in the conservation of bees if they are made aware of the importance of bees to the improvement of their livelihood and sustainability of their agricultural systems. African farmers are aware of insects as pests but not as important factor in the agricultural productivity. Bees are taken for granted by farmers, just like the air and the light. However, the “free pollination service” provided by “God” to human survival is irreplaceable and it will be difficult for scientists to find a technology that can replace it in the nature. In Uganda, many people and farmers believe that if there is a yield loss, it will be attributed to anything but not to pollination deficit. However, conservation of pollinators is a key for sustainable agriculture development in Africa. Much of crops grown in Africa owe their production to bee pollination activities. African green revolution will not work without paying great attention to pollinators in the plant breeding programs .

Findings from this study also indicated that, that more than 90% of the farmers were not aware of the role played by bees in the increase of coffee yield. As it was also observed in Kenya , small-scale farmers in central Uganda were not willing to manage their lands to protect pollinators because not only that they were ignorant, but, they also considered pollination as an unsolicited “free service”, or as a “public good”. Most farmers considered that coffee could still produce with or with-out receiving visits from bees. In contrast to the views and perceptions of the farmers, pollination experiments conducted from 30 coffees showed that the economic value of pollination services delivered to coffee approximated US $ 650/ha/year on average . At the national level, the total economic value of coffee produced in Uganda is on average of US$214 million from half million hectares dedicated to coffee production, and ap-proximately 60%  of this economic value is attributable to pollination services delivered by bees to coffee in Uganda . This is the evidence that coffee needed pollinators in central Uganda.