A typical application of SEAMLESS-IF at macro level: a trade liberalization scenario applied to the EU

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics,

EXPERIMENT STUDY OF AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM FOR INTRA-ROW WEED CONTROL

The study is used to propose and test by experiment a procedure for autonomous hoeing system for intra-row weed control. The proposed system utilizes the RTK-GPS navigation system. The system consists of autonomous vehicle equipped with side-shifting frame and cycloid hoe. The navigation of the system is controlled using a pre-specified plan and implemented in the system internal computer. The internal computer is also attached to a field station using the wireless local area network (WLAN). The performance of the system was measured through an experiment consisted of making rows having small plants and soil conditions similar to the actual field. The results based on chi-square shows that transverse deviation had normal distribution indicating the performance of the side-shift control. The results related to the longitudinal deviation distance between plants and the nearest line trajectories showed good chi-square fit which is an indication of performance of the cycloid hoe control. The result shows that the system is promising and can be used at larger level with suitable adjustment

Export commodity production and broad-based rural development: coffee and cocoa in the Dominican Republic

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Dominican farmers produce coffee and cocoa, nearly 40 percent of all agricultural producers. The sectors also provide employment for tens of thousands of field laborers and persons employed in linked economic activities. The majority of coffee and cocoa producers are small-scale and most are located in environmentally sensitive watersheds. Recent trends in international commodity markets have challenged the survival of both sectors. Production is characterized by low yields and uneven quality, while periodic hurricanes have contributed to a lackluster and unstable record of output and exports. Despite these conditions, most experts acknowledge the fact that appropriate agro-ecological conditions exist in Dominican Republic for production of high-quality coffee and cocoa. To be competitive and sustainable, some changes must take place in the coffee and cocoa sectors. The objective of this study is to provide an overview of the coffee and cocoa sectors, to identify major problems, and to suggest possible strategies to deal with these problems. The authors conclude that if the objectives of the government are poverty reduction, environmental protection and overall well-being of rural society, it is critical to move beyond a commodity-specific approach to a broader rural development focus on households, regions and environments where coffee and cocoa are currently being grown.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems

An automatic machine able to perform variable rate application of flame weeding: design and assembly

This paper describes the design and development of an automatic machine able to perform Variable Rate Application of cross flaming in maize fields. The VRA flaming machine was designed to remove weeds mechanically from the inter-row area and perform selective and targeted cross flaming along the crop rows. The mechanical treatment will be performed in a continuous way, even without weed presence. On the contrary, cross flaming on the maize rows is applied selective and automatically only if weeds are presence. Flame weeding is applied by means of prismatic burners fed by Liquefied Petroleum Gas, able to treat 25 cm wide strips of soil surface including crop rows. Flaming can be used selectively in maize, which can tolerate the heat released from the burners. Mechanism of morphological tolerance is the presence of many layers of the outer leaf tissue protecting the inner growing point. A low or a high LPG dose can be chosen automatically according to the weed cover percentage detected by a weed detection system. The ignition system of the VRA flaming machine is almost instantaneous and the complete flame in the burner is obtained in 0.4 s. The machine is provided with an automatic steering system in order to avoid damaging the maize plants with the rigid tools used for mechanical weed removal. The VRA flaming machine is a new technology for precision agriculture and was designed and built within the “Robot fleets for Highly Effective Agriculture and forestry management” (RHEA) Project, funded by EU, aimed to develop a fleet of heterogeneous autonomous robot units in order to perform site-specific treatments related to crop protection in different agricultural scenarios

Environmental Policy Update 2012: Development Strategies and Environmental Policy in East Africa

The seven chapters that comprise this report explore ways to integrate sustainability goals and objectives into Ethiopia's current development strategies