Jatropha Assessment. Agronomy, socio-economic issues, and ecology. Facts from literature.

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) has been promoted as a potential renewable energy source for many of its advantageous properties in comparison to other biomass feedstock. This report summarises the agronomy, socio-economic issues, and ecology facts from literature on Jatropha. Such an overview is essential to formulate recommendations and policy guidelines to stimulate best project practices and also help to avoid the promotion of unviable or unsustainable practices

The role of independent and intervening variables in maize growers\' adoption of seed spacing in the Njombe district of Tanzania

The on going quest for a better understanding and prediction of adoption behaviour through the identification and analysis of the most influential behaviour determinants gave rise to this study. It was especially designed with the main objective of determining the comparative role of independent and intervening variables on the adoption of seed spacing among maize growers in the Njombe district of Tanzania. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 113 farmers randomly selected to represent 5 percent samples of four villages selected to represent the biggest variation in terms of the climatic conditions in the district. The outstanding finding of this research is the much stronger and more consistent relationship that intervening variables have compared to the independent variables, which is in support of the research hypothesis. The total contribution of intervening variables to the variation of adoption behaviour is as much as 93 percent, which far exceeds that of the independent variables contributing only 6 percent. This supports the assumption that the intervening variables are the direct precursors of adoption behaviour and that the influence of independent variable becomes manifested in adoption behaviour via the intervening variables. From this emerge exciting possibilities for behaviour interventions of development programmes, but more research is necessary to verify the findings in different countries and cultures and to refine the selection of the most relevant intervening variables. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 36 (1) 2007: pp. 109-12

Evaluating the intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in Sustainable Food Supply Chains:an emerging economy context

YesPurpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate food supply chain stakeholders’ intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in food supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – We used a quantitative research design and collected data using an online survey administered to a sample of 264 food supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was conducted to assess the research’s hypothesised relationships. Findings – We provide empirical evidence to support the contributions of I5.0 drones for cleaner production. Our findings showed that food supply chain stakeholders are more concerned with the use of I5.0 drones in specific operations such as reducing plant diseases which invariably enhances cleaner production. However, there is less inclination to drones adoption if the aim was pollution reduction, predicting seasonal output and addressing workers health and safety challenges. Our findings outline the need for awareness to promote the use of drones for addressing workers hazard challenges and knowledge transfer on the potentials of I5.0 in emerging economies. Originality – This is the first study to address I5.0 drones' adoption using a sustainability model. We contribute to existing literature by extending the sustainability model to identify the contributions of drones use in promoting cleaner production through addressing specific system operations. This study addresses the gap by augmenting a sustainability model, suggesting that technology adoption for sustainability is motivated by curbing challenges categorised as drivers and mediators