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This paper explores the issue of project sustainability through an analysis of the experiences of a Faith-Based Development Organisation (FBDO) in Bo, Sierra Leone. The FBDO in question was approached by members of their local Catholic Women Association (CWA) to help them with the planning and management of a farm that had been donated to them by a chief. They agreed to this, and a series of workshops were held in June 2014, along with follow-up discussions with local experts and businesses as to what could be done to help support the women in their endeavour. Amongst other priorities, the women identified the need for the farm to produce food, income and help with their development. However, an outbreak of the Ebola virus that occurred between 2014 and 2016, following as it did on the back of an 11-year (1991–2002) civil war in Sierra Leone, led to a re-evaluation of the farm project in the eyes of the FBDO as they decided to shift to earlier priorities in education and health care. Given the constraints regarding resources and personnel, community projects, such as the CWA farm project, became of much lesser importance even though it resonated strongly with the goals of the FBDO and government, and had garnered much support amongst international donors. The paper sets out that story, beginning with the workshops and discussions held in 2014, and the ramifications of these responses to various ‘shocks', such as those presented by the civil war and disease outbreaks (Ebola and COVID-19);it also provides recommendations that might be of use regarding the interface between project and institutional sustainability within FBDOs and, indeed, the wider community of development organisations.
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This report describes the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the productive and economic aspects of livestock and aquaculture production in Italy, including farm management, labour, income, marketing and consumption of animal products (meat, fish, eggs, milk and dairy products), consumer behaviour, food safety, agrotourism and disease control.
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The impact of COVID-19 and resultant lockdown were quite harsh on agriculture sector of India. Tapioca and plantain farmers suffered the most in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh during COVID-19 pandemic. In this context the present study was conducted to develop a scale to measure impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pre farmgate-post farmgate operations of tapioca growers in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Four dimensions were identified based on literature review & expert opinion for easy classification and measuring the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. A total 200 statements under four dimensions of impact of COVID-19 pandemic was collected, out of these 80 consistent statements were selected through relevancy test. Out of 80 statements, these 43 statements were retained on the final scale through t-test item analysis. Reliability and validity of the scale indicates its consistency and precision of the results. This scale was found to be reliable and valid.
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The current study aimed to determine the spatial transferability of eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models for estimating biophysical and biochemical variables (BVs), using Sentinel-2 data. The specific objectives were to: (1) assess the effect of different proportions of training samples (i.e., 25%, 50%, and 75%) available at the Target site (DT) on the spatial transferability of the XGBoost models and (2) evaluate the effect of the Source site (DS) (i.e., trained) model accuracy on the Target site (i.e., unseen) retrieval uncertainty. The results showed that the Bothaville (DS) → Harrismith (DT) Leaf Area Index (LAI) models required only fewer proportions, i.e., 25% or 50%, of the training samples to make optimal retrievals in the DT (i.e., RMSE: 0.61 m2 m−2;R2: 59%), while Harrismith (DS) →Bothaville (DT) LAI models required up to 75% of training samples in the DT to obtain optimal LAI retrievals (i.e., RMSE = 0.63 m2 m−2;R2 = 67%). In contrast, the chlorophyll content models for Bothaville (DS) → Harrismith (DT) required significant proportions of samples (i.e., 75%) from the DT to make optimal retrievals of Leaf Chlorophyll Content (LCab) (i.e., RMSE: 7.09 µg cm−2;R2: 58%) and Canopy Chlorophyll Content (CCC) (i.e., RMSE: 36.3 µg cm−2;R2: 61%), while Harrismith (DS) →Bothaville (DT) models required only 25% of the samples to achieve RMSEs of 8.16 µg cm−2 (R2: 83%) and 40.25 µg cm−2 (R2: 77%), for LCab and CCC, respectively. The results also showed that the source site model accuracy led to better transferability for LAI retrievals. In contrast, the accuracy of LCab and CCC source site models did not necessarily improve their transferability. Overall, the results elucidate the potential of transferable Machine Learning Regression Algorithms and are significant for the rapid retrieval of important crop BVs in data-scarce areas, thus facilitating spatially-explicit information for site-specific farm management.
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Pricing management is part of farm management with the purpose of increasing profitability and competitiveness. It is based on the production cost and purchase price which difference affects to the financial result. The aim of this research is to identify milk price volatility at the Croatian and EU level, international trade, as well as to identify trends for the period from 2016 to 2020 and to simulate changes for the next period from 2021 to 2025. The analyzed data were taken from the Eurostat and processed using time and harmonized index. Milk production in the EU-27 for 2020 is 23 mil. tons of milk and averages 65 kilograms milk consumption per capita. The lowest average production price of milk in the analyzed period at the EU-27 level was in 2016 (28 per 100 kg of milk) and in following years it is up to 35 per 100 kg. The market situation reflects the consequence of the abolition of quotas in the dairy industry (2015) and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In period from 2021 to 2025, a slight growth and slowdown in milk production of 2.83% compared to 2020 and an increase in the average producer milk prices in 2025 by 9.6% compared to 2020 are projected. This research contributes to identifying the sources of difficulties in managing prices. The guidelines have been developed for more efficient price management in order to improve the competitiveness and market positioning.
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This article discusses the strategies done by the dairy sector in Switzerland to maintain and even have surplus milk supply during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the strategies implemented during the pandemic are milk production tests, inspection of the origin of milk, registration of calves, and insemination using top performing dairy bulls.
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Animal health and diseases have a major impact on human health and behaviour (i.e. zoonosis, schools, communication etc), food production (African Swine Fever), economy (direct and indirect costs) and trade (export, import, intercommunity trade). Even almost all countries have implemented all kind of management measures, humanity still face up today huge problems, for example the most recent experience, being COVID-19, which ceased almost all human activities in the world and changed people behaviour for several years (2019 up today). For this reason, the paper represents a systemic review of recent information on different management indicators developed - epidemiological/economic etc in order to assist managers (politically, authorities, farmers, all the people involved) to prevent, survey and control such diseases, to develop best practices for benchmarking their country health systems/farm management system etc, and finally to led to an effective and efficient management of infectious disease in livestock during crisis. In this regard, the retrospective method was used and the information reviewed was collected from the latest information published between 2019-2022, available on WHO, Economic Impact, CDC websites, where through a tremendous and collaborative effort across different public health organisations, scientists in the world, dashboards and standard indicators publicly available have been developed. The results of this study demonstrate that the managers of livestock during crisis, the competent authorities, the governments have to consider, undertake and include these kind of tools/indicators in their management in order to assist them to develop their emergency preparedness capacity and to manage in an effective way the infectious diseases during crisis respectively prevention, early detection, rapid response, identifying their vulnerabilities etc.
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The combination of appropriate agricultural and irrigation practices, and innovative social interventions through farmer collectives, were shown to strengthen fragile agricultural livelihoods in the project "Improving water use for dry season agriculture by marginal and tenant farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains" (DSI4MTF - ACIAR Project LWR/2012/79), which operated from 2014-2019. The success of the DSI4MTF model is dependent on the scalability and sustainability of the collectives, as well as the ability to manage risks associated with irrigated agriculture and climate change. This small research activity (SRA) continued engagement with farmer collectives in six villages in Saptari (Nepal) and Bihar and West Bengal (India), with the aim to extend the use of climate-smart irrigation and water management practices and strengthen institutional structures to sustain farmer collectives to ensure their long term sustainability. It was found that "measuring to manage" helps to improve on-farm irrigation and water management decisions, thereby mitigating climate risk. A Smart Irrigation Toolkit (SIT) approach has been outlined, which incorporates simple field level assessments using low-cost measurement equipment, supported by decision support mobile Apps. SIT provides the farmer with timely information to improve irrigation practice. It also provides managers operating at a program or scheme level, with information to support spatial and temporal benchmarking, as well as system operating, maintenance and replacement decisions. The establishment of farmer collectives, which allow farmers to pool land, labour and capital, has been shown to be foundational for sustainable agricultural intensification by marginal farmers. The SRA period was used to identify the longer-term strategy to sustain these collectives and build their scalability. These include the need to harness existing cohesion and collective spirit within communities, the importance of expanding to form larger plots, and the critical role played by ethical community engagement in ensuring buy in from communities. Most importantly, to strengthen the collectives and ensure their sustainability after the end of the project, a Collectives Association has been proposed and piloted under this SRA. The Collectives Association brings several groups together under a single institutional framework. It helps offer broader economies of scale, strengthens linkages with other institutions, and could support training of farmers in irrigation technologies, renting of equipment, facilitating conflict resolution, and supporting blue sky ideas such as a land lease bank. The project has had substantial success in building gender equity through the collectives, and in considering gender across the supply chain. There has also been considerable progress in strengthening links between the farmer collectives and a range of institutions and programmes. Links to the private sector, especially with regards to the marketing of agricultural produce, need to be further strengthened, and the collectives association could play a critical role. It was suggested that the scaling of improved irrigation practices through a Smart Irrigation Toolkit (SIT) is best done through a pilot project, which integrates project learnings with organisations responsible for irrigation development. While there is good potential for scaling, business cases are required to demonstrate potential benefits to the range of beneficiaries. These business cases need to be developed in association with irrigation scheme implementation agencies, as well as with organisations supporting farmer communities. The public sector has a key role to support the initial scaling of SIT. Alignment with irrigation and agricultural department functions would establish a program for deployment, demonstration and alignment with policy. The Collectives Association would play a key mediating role for marginal farmers, and could support the deployment of SIT locally. The COVID19 pandemic, which started in the last few months of the SRA pe
ABSTRACT
Upravljanje cijenama je dio menadžerskog upravljanja sa svrhom povećanja profitabilnost i konkurentnost. U proizvodnji mlijeka za upravljanje cijenama osnovne su proizvodna i prodajna cijena, čija razlika odred strok signuje financijski rezultat poslovanja. Cilj istraživanja je identificirati cjenovne odnose u proizvodnji mlijeka na hrvatskoj i EU razini, prepoznati trendove za razdoblje od 2016. do 2020. i simulirati promjene za naredno razdoblje od 2021. do 2025. godine. Analizirani podatci su preuzeti sa stranica Eurostata te obrad strok signeni pomoću vremenskih i harmoniziranih indeksa. Proizvodnja mlijeka u EU-27 za 2020. godini je prosječno 23 mil. tona mlijeka a konzumacija mlijeka po stanovniku u prosjeku iznosi 65 kilograma. Najniža prosječna proizvodna cijena mlijeka, u analiziranom razdoblju na EU-27 razini, je bila u 2016. godini (28 €/100 kg mlijeka) te sljedećih godina iznosi i do 35 €/100 kg. Situacija na tržištu reflektira posljedicu ukidanja kvota u mljekarskoj industrija (2015.) te utjecaj pandemije COVID-19 na proizvodnju mlijeka. Za razdoblje od 2021. do 2025. predvid strok signa se blagi rast i usporavanje proizvodnje mlijeka od 2,83% u odnosu na 2020. te povećanje prosječne proizvod strok signačke cijene mlijeka u 2025. za 9,6% u odnosu na 2020. godinu. Ovo istraživanje doprinosi identificiranju izvora poteškoća pri upravljanju cijenama u proizvodnji mlijeka. Razvijene su smjernice za učinkovitije upravljanje cijenama u cilju poboljšanja konkurentnosti i tržišnog pozicioniranja.Alternate :Pricing management is part of farm management with the purpose of increasing profitability and competitiveness. It is based on the production cost and purchase price which difference affects to the financial result. The aim of this research is to identify milk price volatility at the Croatian and EU level, international trade, as well as to identify trends for the period from 2016 to 2020 and to simulate changes for the next period from 2021 to 2025. The analyzed data were taken from the Eurostat and processed using time and harmonized index. Milk production in the EU-27 for 2020 is 23 mil. tons of milk and averages 65 kilograms milk consumption per capita. The lowest average production price of milk in the analyzed period at the EU-27 level was in 2016 (28 euro per 100 kg of milk) and in following years it is up to 35 euro per 100 kg. The market situation reflects the consequence of the abolition of quotas in the dairy industry (2015) and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In periodfrom 2021 to 2025, a slight growth and slowdown in milk production of 2.83% compared to 2020 and an increase in the average producer milk prices in 2025 by 9.6% compared to 2020 are projected. This research contributes to identifying the sources of difficulties in managing prices. The guidelines have been developed for more efficient price management in order to improve the competitiveness and market positioning.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the level of education and experience in animal husbandry in terms of waste management on dairy farms in Kosovo during the Covid-19, the case of Gjilan region. It is a descriptive and quantitative study. Random samples were taken in 71 dairy farms in three municipalities of the Gjilan region. Surveys include farms where 5-78 dairy cows are raised. Data on milk production, waste management from detergents, organic manure, cleaning rags, farm certification and water analysis are included. Datas for each farm were recorded during the period of February-April 2020. During these period farmers' reported that the restrictive measures taken as a result of Covid-19 did not have any negative impact on milk production, however, 26.8% of farmers interviewed reported that milk production was reduced. Further, it was observed a major mismanagement of farm waste that was the main focus of the research: 80.3% of farmers stated that compost waste comes out of the farm and is distributed freely in the environment around the farm.