Prospects for adopting system of rice intensification in Sri Lanka: a socioeconomic assessment

Models / Rice / Paddy fields / Irrigated farming / Rain-fed farming / Poverty / Farmers / Sri Lanka / Ratnapura / Kurunegala / Kalthota Irrigation System

Importance of irrigated agriculture to the Ethiopian economy: capturing the direct net benefits of irrigation

Irrigated farming / National income / Economic growth / Crops / Prices / Sensitivity analysis / Crop management / Irrigation schemes / Ethiopia

An overview of the development challenges and constraints of the Niger Basin and possible intervention strategies

The Niger River Basin covers 7.5% of the African continent, and is shared between nine riparian countries. The basin countries can be categorized into water resources producers, consumers, both producers and consumers, and minimum contributors and consumers. As in the case for most transboundary rivers, upstream and downstream conflicts emanating from the development and utilization of the Niger River are inevitable and are expected to be intense, particularly given the escalating demands for water from the many uses and users. The basin is divided into four major sections, namely Upper Niger, Inland Delta, Middle Niger, and Lower Niger. But these divisions, though useful, are too generic to provide a complete understanding of biophysical, hydrological and socioeconomic processes impinging on the basin’s water resources, and to provide intervention recommendations. On average, the basin’s population is two-thirds (64%) rural and a significant part of the northern zones of the basin is unpopulated. People in the basin are engaged in various livelihood strategies such as dry- and wet-season cropping systems, pastoral systems, crop-livestock systems, and fishing. The dry-season livelihood systems include fadama (lowland or inland valleys) farming, recession flood farming, agroforestry, irrigated rice farming and fishing. Wet-season livelihood systems center mostly on cereal cropping and transhumance. The major crops grown in the basin are yam, cassava, rice, groundnut, millet, sorghum, plantain, cocoa, maize, sugarcane, and cotton. Agriculture represents a large part of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Niger River Basin with crop production alone contributing 25-35% of the basin’s GDP, while livestock and fishery contribute 10-15% and 1-4%, respectively. All countries of the Niger Basin suffer from chronic and acute poverty and are ranked ‘poor’ by most poverty indicators (Human Development Index [HDI]), child mortality, life expectancy, Social Vulnerability Index, etc.). Several structural (social and institutional) factors hold a large segment of the basin’s population in the throes of poverty. Niger Basin’s challenge is to break this vicious circle by using resources to generate sustainable growth that is favorable to the poor. Some of the prominent water-related challenges are degradation of land and water resources, climate change and variability, vulnerability to disasters, inefficiency and poor performance of agriculture (rain-fed and irrigation), competing demands between sectors and water users and inadequate investment in water infrastructure. At a wider level, inadequate public services, institutional and governance failure, high population growth and urbanization, poor macro-economic performance, and unemployment have also undermined the development of the basin. The severity of these challenges varies from location to location in the basin. The basin’s development goals and objectives originate as a response to the development challenges and are articulated in various policy documents such as the Niger Basin Shared Vision (NBA PADD), poverty reduction strategy papers, United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), specifically the pillars 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The goals of the basin countries are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowerment of women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development. viii The specific development objectives of the basin countries are the following: • Increase income, generate jobs, improve living standards, and alleviate poverty, especially among the poorest section of the population while at the same time safeguarding the environment including the sustainable management of the Niger Basin water resources. • Improve access to health and education services, and increase life expectancy. • Achieve political stability, good governance and an appropriate institutional framework. • Improve the investment climate for private-sector development where infrastructure plays a decisive part. • Develop infrastructures and the productive sector to ensure better productivity of factors of production and economic growth. • Reduce food imports, boost agricultural exports through stabilization, intensification and expansion of agricultural production. To realize the basin’s development goals and objectives the following water-centered intervention clusters needed to be synergistically pursued. • Ensuring right to secure access to water for the poor. • Developing new infrastructure. • Improving access to agricultural water management innovations. • Strengthening Niger Basin’s water governance. • Upgrading rain-fed systems. • Reducing the vulnerability of poor people to climate shocks and other hazards. • Minimizing degradation of the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. • Diversifying livelihood strategies

Chemical efficiency of reactive microflows with heterogeneus catalysis: a lattice Boltzmann study

We investigate the effects of geometrical micro-irregularities on the conversion efficiency of reactive flows in narrow channels of millimetric size. Three-dimensional simulations, based upon a Lattice-Boltzmann-Lax-Wendroff code, indicate that periodic micro-barriers may have an appreciable effect on the effective reaction efficiency of the device. Once extrapolated to macroscopic scales, these effects can result in a sizeable increase of the overall reaction efficiency.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Filosofía del espacio y teoría de la acción en Gilles Deleuze

We aim to think a theory of action that is implicit in Deleuze’s philosophy of space. The concept of depth, in which intensity is thought as affirmation of difference, works as an a priori for this theory. Through two texts by Ruyer and Simondon mentioned by Deleuze, affects appear as an expression of that spatial dimension in the subject. Also depth is linked with the temporal synthesis finding, lastly, in the notion of the fold, the right concept to think a subject of action which is an alternative to the substantial I.Nos proponemos pensar una teoría de la acción implícita en la filosofía deleuziana del espacio. El concepto de profundidad, en el que se despliega el carácter de la intensidad como afirmación de la diferencia, funciona como presupuesto de esta teoría. A partir de dos textos de Ruyer y Simondon mencionados por Deleuze, los afectos aparecen como expresión de aquella dimensión espacial en el sujeto. La profundidad se articula a su vez con las síntesis temporales en un recorrido que encuentra en la noción de pliegue el concepto adecuado para pensar un sujeto de la acción alternativo al yo sustancial.

Совершенствование критериальной и оценочной базы комплексного эколого-экономического учета

На современном этапе развития экономических отношений особенно актуальной становится проблема вхождения Украины в мировое сообщество в качестве ее полноправного партнера. В этом отношении неоспоримым является тот факт, что экономические проблемы, решаемые нашим государством, являются не только национальными, но и общемировыми. При цитировании документа, используйте ссылку http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/1588

Smallholder shallow groundwater irrigation development in the upper east region of Ghana

In sub-Saharan Africa, there is paucity of information on the potential of groundwater resources. The limited available information paints a pessimistic view about groundwater resources. Due to its perceived inadequate availability, groundwater is associated with domestic use but the potential for using it for agriculture is not well reflected in the national irrigation policies. Contrary to official pessimism, farmers do use groundwater for agriculture in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. This paper analyzes the current extent of use, economics, socioeconomic impacts, and constraints and opportunities of shallow groundwater irrigation based on the experiences of smallholders in the three micro-watersheds of the White Volta Basin in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Importance of irrigated agriculture to the Ethiopian economy: Capturing the direct net benefits of irrigation

Abstract Irrigation development is seen as one of the means to reduce poverty and promote economic growth. While a lot of effort is exerted towards irrigation development, little attempt is done to quantify the contribution of irrigation to national income in Ethiopia. This study is an attempt to quantify the actual and expected contribution of irrigation to the Ethiopian national economy for 2005/06 cropping season and 2009/10 using adjusted net gross margin analysis. Our results show that irrigation in the study sites generates an average income of about USD 323/ ha. This compares to the calculated gross margin for rainfed which is USD 147/ha. This indicates that after accounting for annual investment replacement cost net gross margin from irrigation is more than twice higher than gross margin from rainfed agriculture. On the other hand, the contribution coming from the large scale sugar growing estates in 2009/2010 is estimated to be USD 217.5 million which amounts to 2.9 and 1.2 percent of the agricultural and overall GDP respectively. Similarly the contribution coming from large scale commercial farms growing crops other than sugar cane is expected to increase to USD 35.8 million in 2009/2010 which accounts to 0.4 and 0.2 percent of the agricultural and overall GDP respectively. This implies that large scale commercial farms will contribute about 3.3 and 1.4 of the agricultural and overall GDP respectively. In summary, our results indicate that under conservative estimates the future contribution of irrigation to agricultural and overall GDP will be about 9 and 3.7 percent respectively. When some of the assumptions related to cropping pattern, input and output prices, 128 and efficiency levels are relaxed, the contribution of smallholder managed irrigation to agricultural and overall GDP will vary between 4 to 6 and 1.8 to 1.9 percent respectively. Similarly, the contribution from large scale irrigation to agricultural and overall GDP will be in the range of 3 to 6 and 1.2 to 2.5 percent respectively. Overall, the future contribution of irrigation to agricultural GDP will be in the range of 7 to 12 percent while the contribution to overall GDP will be in the range of about 4 percent. To enhance the contribution of irrigation to national economy, besides increasing the presence of physical water infrastructure, however, there is a need to: i) improve provision of agricultural inputs, ii) promote high value crops through the extension system, iii) create good market conditions, and iv) increase the efficiency of small and large schemes