Market restrictions on the lifting and transportation equipment production

Over the past few decades, the trends of globalization and the markets expansion have been fundamental in the Russian and world economies. Such economic structure requires a large volume and range of transportation, the storage systems presence, the transported objects distribution. Logistics centers become an integral part of the economic development both for the regions and the country as a whole. Logistics centers, in turn, need specialized equipment that allows the most efficient use of existing storage areas. Reach truck is one of the most commonly used equipment in large A and A + warehouses. The article presents the estimating market restrictions method when the equipment cost determining taking into account the characteristics of the designed facility and the main competitors represented on the market. The method peculiarity is taking into account the technical and consumer characteristics of the investigated object, their comparison with the competitors' parameters. Based on this comparison, the possible product price is determined. The proposed technique allows to optimize equipment configuration and price depending on the consumers' needs. The proposed evaluation algorithm was tested on complex technical equipment (reach truck), but it should be noted that the proposed methodology is universal and can be applied to any technical object. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

A comparative analysis of yield gaps and water productivity on smallholder farms in Ethiopia, South Africa and Tunisia

International audienceAgriculture in developing countries will have to transform and increase production by an estimated 70% in order to meet demands by 2050. Although well-managed commercial farms offer little manoeuvring space for increasing agricultural water productivity, smallholder farms usually operate at low input costs and therefore provide ample opportunities to reduce the potential yield gap through agricultural intensification. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare yields and water productivities obtained in field and modelling experiments in Ethiopia (maize, garlic, onion), South Africa (tomato) and Tunisia (tomato, potato, wheat). Innovative agricultural practices were introduced on smallholder farms: irrigation scheduling and NPS Zn fertilization in Ethiopia; high-yielding cultivar, drip irrigation, mulching and organic amendments in South Africa; and crop water modelling in Tunisia. In general, crop yields increased up to eight times with innovative practices compared to current conventional farming practices. Crop water productivities were fairly stable within the same experiments, but increased with innovations, indicating that intensive farming can be more environmentally sustainable than conventional farming. Intensive farming systems in a resource-rich environment (high radiation levels, relatively fertile, deep and well-drained soils), combined with technology transfer and capacity building could be seen as viable strategies to secure food for smallholders and communities in African rural areas, as well as to improve water utilization in water-scarce catchments

Transdisciplinary innovation in irrigated smallholder agriculture in Africa

Boosting the productivity of smallholder farming systems continues to be a major need in Africa. Challenges relating to how to improve irrigation are multi-factor and multisectora l, and they involve a broad range of actors who must interact to reach decisions collectively. We provide a systematic reflection on findings from the research project EAU4Food, which adopted a transdisciplinary approach to irrigation for food security research in five case studies in Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa and Tunisia. The EAU4Food experiences emphasize that actual innovation at irrigated smallholder farm level remains limited without sufficient improvement of the enabling environment and taking note of the wider political economy environment. Most project partners felt at the end of the project that the transdisciplinary approach has indeed enriched the research process by providing different and multiple insights from actors outside the academic field. Local capacity to facilitate transdisciplinary research and engag ement with practitio ners was developed and could support the continuation and scaling up of the approach. Future projects may benefit from a longer time frame to allow for deeper exchange of lessons learned among different stakeholders and a dedicated effort to analyse possible improvements of the enabling environment from the beginning of the research process