Effectiveness of an agricultural technology research and development project for increasing sustainability of cropping systems in upland areas of Yunnan Province, China

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Continued increase in population and escalating environmental degradation have changed the priorities of agricultural development projects in developing and emerging countries towards both increasing production or productivity and improving sustainability. The long-term success of these development projects, especially in terms of improving sustainability, depends on how widely those improved practices which are shown to be effective in achieving the technical objectives, are adopted/adapted by farmers in the targeted region. In these terms, many projects in recent years may be considered to be relatively unsuccessful. This study aimed to investigate the factors contributing to the effectiveness of agricultural technology research and development projects in improving the sustainability of cropping systems in upland areas of China, together with the factors that might limit their effectiveness. This has involved both a review of recent projects carried out in the region and detailed monitoring and evaluation of one such project carried out in South West China – the SHASEA project. The SHASEA Project was implemented in Wang Jia catchment in Yunnan Province using holistic and multi-disciplinary approaches to address the twin objectives of increasing productivity of maize, wheat and soybean in a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. It introduced into the catchment a range of novel or modified cropping practices, which had been evaluated in plot studies over the preceding six years, together with biological and engineering measures designed to stabilise large scale soil movements in lateral gullies and the main stream. The SHASEA Project was successful in achieving its short-term scientific and technical objectives, but was too short to determine the level of adoption by farmers in the locality. The present study has used a range of approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of this Project, to monitor the biological, environmental and socio-economic impacts and investigate the perceptions of the farmers about the Project and the likelihood of their adoption of the recommended practices. Participatory approaches were used wherever possible, including detailed household surveys, PRA workshops and discussions with Key Informants. Field surveys and direct observations were also made, together with a limited economic analysis of the modified cropping practices introduced into the catchment. It was found that the farmers had different perceptions about the range of practices introduced into the catchment. Some were clearly preferred, such as contour cultivation and were likely to be adopted, while others were seen as inappropriate, such as straw mulching and intercropping, and were unlikely to be adopted. The benefits of an innovative, integrated cropping system, INCOPLAST, were not fully appreciated by the farmers. Other practices would only be adopted if the financial returns were favourable, such as the use of polythene mulch. Longer-term measures, such as tree planting schemes, were regarded favourably, but adoption would still depend on economic returns and related issues such as land security. An irrigation scheme was suggested by the farmers, but after installation it was not used extensively for the staple crops in the catchment. It was found that farmers planned to use the irrigation for higher value crops such as tobacco, after the end of the Project. It has been concluded that, despite the technical and scientific success of the Project, long-term adoption of many of the practices introduced into the catchment will be low, unless considerable incentives are used or much more effective dissemination techniques employed. It is considered that the outcomes would have improved considerably if participatory approaches had been used from the outset, to engage farmers more fully with the project, to ensure that the practices introduced were as appropriate as possible, to achieve greater ownership of the objectives and outcomes, leading to higher adoption rates. More emphasis should have been given to the dissemination of the outcomes at farmer level outside the catchment of study and there should have been more involvement with the regional policy makers and extension officials throughout the programme. Longer-term improvements in sustainability at the catchment level have not yet been demonstrated. These outcomes are discussed within the context of other agricultural projects carried out in South East Asia and other developing regions. Based on the outcomes and conclusions from this study, a series of recommendations are made which are presented as good practices for future agricultural development projects in South East Asia

Overview of holistic application of biogas for small scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Agro-environmental project duration and effectiveness in South-east Asia

Considerable emphasis has been placed on developing technologies for agricultural sustainability. Many bilateral projects are working to achieve this outcome. A desk review was conducted to study the importance of project duration for the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural projects. Longer-duration projects were successful in addressing more holistic issues than short projects. However, funding agencies tend to fund shorter-duration projects, so projects become progressively shorter. At the same time, the number of projects implemented each year is increasing. Despite the decrease in total development assistance, increases in project numbers, particularly since 1986, appear to be at the cost of project duration. Short project duration was one of the most cited reasons for not completing essential dissemination activities for wider adoption, whereas longer- duration projects were usually considered more successful in addressing more holistic issues. It is difficult to produce tangible outputs from agricultural and soil conservation projects within five years. Considering the slow changes in the system and in agricultural and environmental sustainability, the authors suggest that project developers should be advised to plan for a minimum of 5–10 years, depending on the nature of activities. It is time for funding agencies to reconsider their tendency to fund shorter-duration projects

What is the potential for biogas digesters to improve soil carbon sequestration in Sub-Saharan Africa? Comparison with other uses of organic residues

Acknowledgments We are very grateful to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call for funding this work. PS is a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.Peer reviewedPostprin

What is the potential for biogas digesters to improve soil fertility and crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Acknowledgements We are very grateful to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call for funding this work. PS is a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.Peer reviewedPostprin

Can biogas digesters help to reduce deforestation in Africa?

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for financial support for this work in part from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call, and in part from the EU under the REDD-ALERT (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation from Alternative Land Uses in Rainforests of the Tropics) project, Grant agreement number 226310. The authors thank Dr Hoang Viet Anh, Dr Suyanto and Mr. Gamma Galudra for their input on the manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Agro-environmental lessons from the ‘sustainable highland agriculture in South-East Asia’ (SHASEA) project

To promote sustainable agro-environmental development in the highlands of South-East Asia, an international multidisciplinary research team examined the effectiveness of selected agronomic and soil conservation treatments (both modified and novel cropping practises) using farmer-managed runoff plots. The study sites were located in the highlands of Yunnan Province (Wang Jia Catchment), China and Mae Honson Province (Pang Mapa District), Northern Thailand. Project lessons relating to co-operation, research partnerships, time horizons, multidisciplinarity, income generation, information dissemination and education are discussed. Article in English. Žemės ūkio ir aplinkosauginė patirtis vykdant projektą „Tvarusis žemės ūkis Pietryčių Azijos aukštumose“ Santrauka. Tvariajai žemės ūkio plėtrai skatinti Pietryčių Azijos aukštumose tarptautinių tarpdisciplininių mokslinių tyrimų grupė ištyrė pasirinktų argonominių bei dirvos apsaugos būdų efektyvumą (taikyta ir modifikuotieji, ir nauji žemdirbystės būdai) dirbamuose ūkininkų laukuose. Tyrimo vietos pasirinktos Junanio provincijoje (Wang Jia baseine) Kinijoje ir Mae Honson provincijoje (Pang Mapa srityje) Šiaurės Tailando aukštumose. Straipsnyje aptariama projekto pamokos, susijusios su bendradarbiavimo plėtojimu, mokslinių tyrimų partneryste, investavimu, tarpdisciplininių metodų taikymu, pajamų augimu, informacijos sklaida ir švietimo klausimais. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kinija, šiaurės – pietų bendradarbiavimas, dirvožemio apsauga, INCOPLAST, pietų – pietų bendra darbiavimas, šiaudų mulčas, tvarioji plėtra, Tailandas, “laiko horizontas”. Сельскохозяйственный и природоохранный опыт, полученный при осуществлении проекта «Рациональное сельское хозяйство на возвышенностях юго-восточной Азии» Резюме. С целью содействовать рациональному развитию сельского хозяйства на возвышенностях юго-восточной части Азии группа ученых, занимающаяся междисциплинарными научными исследованиями, исследовала эффективность некоторых агрономических и почвоохранных мер с применением как модифицированных, так и новых способов земледелия на обрабатываемых сельскохозяйственных полях. Для исследований были выбраны места в провинциях Юнань (в бассейне Wang Jia) в Китае и Мае Гонсон (Pang Mapa) на возвышенностях Северного Таиланда. Проанализирован опыт, полученный при осуществлении проекта и касающийся развития сотрудничества, партнерства в сфере научных исследований, инвестирования, применения междисциплинарных методов, роста доходов, распространения информации и вопросов просвещения. Ключевые слова: Китай, сотрудничество между севером и югом, почвоохранные меры, INCOPLAST, сотрудничество между югом и югом, соломенная мульча, рациональное развитие, Таиланд, «горизонты времени»

Plant breeding can be made more efficient by having fewer, better crosses

BACKGROUND: Crop yields have to increase to provide food security for the world’s growing population. To achieve these yield increases there will have to be a significant contribution from genetic gains made by conventional plant breeding. However, the breeding process is not efficient because crosses made between parental combinations that fail to produce useful varieties consume over 99% of the resources. RESULTS: We tested in a rice-breeding programme if its efficiency could be improved by using many fewer, but more judiciously chosen crosses than usual. In a 15-year programme in Nepal, with varietal testing also in India and Bangladesh, we made only six crosses that were stringently chosen on complementary parental performance. We evaluated their success by the adoption and official release of the varieties they produced. We then modelled optimum cross number using assumptions based on our experimental results. Four of the six crosses succeeded. This was a fifty-fold improvement over breeding programmes that employ many crosses where only about one, or fewer, crosses in 200 succeed. Based on these results, we modelled the optimum number of crosses by assuming there would be a decline in the reliability of the breeder’s prediction of the value of each cross as more crosses were made (because there is progressively less information on the traits of the parents). Fewer-cross programmes were more likely to succeed and did so using fewer resources. Making more crosses reduced the overall probability of success of the breeding programme. CONCLUSIONS: The efficiency of national and international breeding programmes would be increased by making fewer crosses among more carefully chosen parents. This would increase the number of higher yielding varieties that are delivered to farmers and hence help to improve food security

Ancient Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco) lineage in Upper Mustang of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

The taxonomic status of the wolf (Canis lupus) in Nepal’s Trans-Himalaya is poorly understood. Recent genetic studies have revealed the existence of three lineages of wolves in the Indian sub-continent. Of these, the Himalayan wolf, Canis lupus chanco, has been reported to be the most ancient lineage historically distributed within the Nepal Himalaya. These wolves residing in the Trans-Himalayan region have been suggested to be smaller and very different from the European wolf. During October 2011, six fecal samples suspected to have originated from wolves were collected from Upper Mustang in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal. DNA extraction and amplification of the mitochondrial (mt) control region (CR) locus yielded sequences from five out of six samples. One sample matched domestic dog sequences in GenBank, while the remaining four samples were aligned within the monophyletic and ancient Himalayan wolf clade. These four sequences which matched each other, were new and represented a novel Himalayan wolf haplotype. This result confirms that the endangered ancient Himalayan wolf is extant in Nepal. Detailed genomic study covering Nepal’s entire Himalayan landscape is recommended in order to understand their distribution, taxonomy and, genetic relatedness with other wolves potentially sharing the same landscape