What Factors are Responsible for The Continued Adoption of The Shifting Cultivation Practices?

Shifting cultivation, deeply ingrained in Nagaland's culture, is a complex agricultural practice that continues to thrive despite modernization. This study presents a comparative analysis of four key districts in Nagaland—Dimapur, Kohima, Zunheboto, and Mokokchung—based on a range of social, economic, environmental, and policy-related criteria. The results reveal the multifaceted factors that contribute to the persistence of shifting cultivation in the region and emphasize its importance for the people of Nagaland

Assessing Ozone impacts on arable crops in South Asia: Identification of suitable risk assessment methods to improve crop biotechnology

This study has applied a number of different O3 risk assessment methods in South Asia to assess the extent and magnitude of O3 risk to crops and investigate how appropriate different methods are in identifying local environmental conditions and crop physiological traits that might alter crop sensitivity to O3. Concentration based methods are used in combination with tools and datasets tailored for South Asian conditions to investigate O3 impacts on wheat, rice, soybean and potato. Relative yield losses are substantially smaller (0.1 to 11.5 %) than those found in previously conducted global modelling studies (3 to 30 %) which is attributed to the improved resolution of the O3 photochemical model and crop distribution datasets used in this South Asian analysis. For the first time O3 flux based risk assessment methods are also applied for wheat in India. The stomatal conductance component of this flux method has been parameterised for Indian wheat based on available crop physiology data. Comparisons show that flux based methods tend to estimate larger relative yield losses than concentration based methods (16 % compared to 0.6 to 11.5 % for India). There are also differences in the spatial pattern of estimated risk though both methods clearly identify the Indo-Gangetic Plains as a high O3 risk region. The co-variation in O3 concentrations, crop distribution (both growth periods and geographical location), local meteorology (especially temperature and VPD) and crop physiology are all important in determining flux estimated O3 sensitivity. Finally, the flux based method is used to assess phenological traits (sowing times and maturing periods) introduced in new Indian wheat cultivars. This highlights the importance of crop phenology in determining O3 sensitivity as a function of both O3 concentration and environmental conditions and emphasises the potential application of flux based approaches as a tool capable of informing future crop biotechnology efforts

Effectiveness of Gravity Goods Ropeways in market participation of smallholder farmers in uplands

Isolated from the market due to harsh terrain, low farm productivity and poor road connectivity, the majority of farmers in the upland region of Nepal practice subsistence farming characterized by abject poverty. This study investigates whether Gravity Goods Ropeway (GGR) improves market participation and livelihood of smallholder farmers in uplands. 113 households’ surveys, 6 focus group discussions, and 39 key informant interviews were conducted in 3 upland villages of Nepal. The before–after analysis was applied to examine the impact of GGR. With reduced average travel time to end market by 57% (p < 0.05), the farmers were able to transport high-quality products directly to small-scale (retailers and consumer) and large-scale (wholesaler) buyers eliminating the role of intermediaries. Additionally, GGR significantly reduced transportation cost by 43% (p < 0.05), post-harvest loss by 39% (p < 0.05), and time for information search enabling farmers to dictate and capture higher share in final selling price. The average quantity of high-value crops (vegetable) supplied to the output market (84%), farm income (84%) and food expenditure (31%) increased significantly (p < 0.05) fulfilling the food needs of upland farmers for the entire year through the increased purchase of rice, pulses and processed food. Unlike the output market, the farmers’ participation in purchasing fertilizer, seeds and other equipment in the input market remained low as they continued to rely on traditional methods because of low cost and local applicability. Therefore, GGR could be one of the suitable technology for upland of Nepal. However, further research is required focusing on the financial (cost/benefit) aspect, a possibility of improving the technology and operation mechanism which will genuinely justify that GGR is a suitable technology in mountain regions of Nepal and elsewhere with similar topographic conditions

Prediction of potential habitat suitability of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and niche overlap in the parts of western Himalayan region

Abstract The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) are the inhabitants of remote areas at higher altitudes with extreme geographic and climatic conditions. The habitats of these least‐studied species are crucial for sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem. We employed the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution model to predict the potential habitat suitability of snow leopards and blue sheep and extracted common overlapped niches. For this, we utilised presence location, bio‐climatic and environmental variables, and correlation analysis was applied to reduce the negative impact of multicollinearity. A total of 134 presence locations of snow leopards and 64 for blue sheep were selected from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The annual mean temperature (Bio1) was found to be the most useful and highly influential factor to predict the potential habitat suitability of snow leopards. Annual mean temperature, annual precipitation and isothermality were the major influencing factors for blue sheep habitat suitability. Highly influential bio‐climatic, topographic and environmental variables were integrated to construct the model for predicting habitat suitability. The area under the curve (AUC) values for snow leopard (0.87) and blue sheep (0.82) showed that the models are under good representation. Of the total area investigated, 47% was suitable for the blue sheep and 38% for the snow leopards. Spatial habitat assessment revealed that nearly 11% area from the predicted suitable habitat class of both species was spatially matched (overlapped), 48.6% area was unsuitable under niche overlap and 40.5% area was spatially mismatched niche. The presence of snow leopards and blue sheep in some highly suitable areas was not observed, yet such areas have the potential to sustain these elusive species. The other geographical regions interested in exploring habitat suitability may find the methodological framework adopted in this study useful for formulating an effective conservation policy and management strategy

Assessing the costs of ozone pollution in India for wheat producers, consumers, and government food welfare policies

We assess wheat yield losses occurring due to ozone pollution in India and its economic burden on producers, consumers, and the government. Applying an ozone flux–based risk assessment, we show that ambient ozone levels caused a mean 14.18% reduction in wheat yields during 2008 to 2012. Furthermore, irrigated wheat was particularly sensitive to ozone-induced yield losses, indicating that ozone pollution could undermine climate-change adaptation efforts through irrigation expansion. Applying an economic model, we examine the effects of a counterfactual, “pollution-free” scenario on yield losses, wheat prices, consumer and producer welfare, and government costs. We explore three policy scenarios in which the government support farmers at observed levels of either procurement prices (fixed-price), procurement quantities (fixed-procurement), or procurement expenditure (fixed-expenditure). In pollution-free conditions, the fixed-price scenario absorbs the fall in prices, thus increasing producer welfare by USD 2.7 billion, but total welfare decreases by USD 0.24 billion as government costs increase (USD 2.9 billion). In the fixed-procurement and fixed-expenditure scenarios, ozone mitigation allows wheat prices to fall by 38.19 to 42.96%. The producers lose by USD 5.10 to 6.01 billion, but the gains to consumers and governments (USD 8.7 to 10.2 billion) outweigh these losses. These findings show that the government and consumers primarily bear the costs of ozone pollution. For pollution mitigation to optimally benefit wheat production and maximize social welfare, new approaches to support producers other than fixed-price grain procurement may be required. We also emphasize the need to consider air pollution in programs to improve agricultural resilience to climate change