Problems of Training Konni Producers in the Context of Reforming the Management of Hydroagricultural Developments: Challenges, Issues and Perspectives

Following the reform of the governance of irrigation schemes in Niger, producer cooperatives are encountering real difficulties in ensuring effective and efficient management of irrigation water, infrastructure maintenance and renewal of hydromechanical equipment. The objective of this research is to analyze the issues and challenges of capacity building for Konni producers in the context of AHA management reform in Niger. The methodological approach adopted is based on documentary research and field surveys with all the actors directly concerned with the management of the Konni irrigated perimeter. A total of 448 people were interviewed in all the localities selected. Direct observation and interview are the two field data collection techniques adopted. The data collected was processed and on the basis of the established diagnosis, the training needs were identified. The results show that there are several experiences in terms of training and capacity building of actors in charge of the management of irrigation systems at the Konni AHA level. However, the sustainability of the perimeter is threatened by various crises. The main themes that founded the first training were related to the mobilization, transport and distribution of irrigation water, operation and maintenance, and setting and collection of the fee. In view of the expectations of operators, future issues and challenges, the training modules are increasingly oriented towards social management, the integration of gender in management and environmental impacts. Even if technical progress is possible, the real lever is organizational and requires the professionalization of irrigators. This process requires a new pedagogical approach aimed at irrigators.

SWOT Analysis of Agricultural Producers in the Supply Chain of Chinese Agro-products

On the basis of defining the producers in the supply chain of agricultural products,the SWOT analysis is adopted to analyze the advantages,disadvantages,opportunities and threats of producers in the supply chain of Chinese agricultural products.The paper analyzes the advantages of producers in the supply chain of agricultural products from three aspects including land resources,technology level of producers and input costs.The disadvantages of producers in the supply chain of agricultural products are analyzed from three aspects including scale level,mechanization and technology level and profit level.The opportunities of producers in the supply chain of agricultural products are analyzed from the aspects of laws,policies,capitals and technologies.The threats confronted by the producers in the supply chain of agricultural products are analyzed from foreign producers,negotiation control of supply chain of agricultural chain,environment protection and quality safety standard.On the basis of the analysis,the relevant suggestions on facilitating the interests of producers in the supply chain of Chinese agricultural products are put forward,including fully displaying the advantages of land resources;improving the knowledge and technology level of supply chain of agricultural production;establishing the alliances of producers of agricultural products to expand production scale;improving the quality of agricultural products to satisfy the relevant safety quality standard and environmental protection standard.

Effect of the Technological Status of Small Cow-Calf Farm Producers on the Induction to Resumption of Ovarian Activity of Dual-Purpose Cattle Raised under Topical Conditions

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of the technological level in small-scale dual-purpose cow-calf Bos indicus female operations on the resumption of the ovarian activity post-partum. A total of 13 small scale dual-purpose Bos indicus × Bos taurus operations were included in this experiment and they were classified according to their technological status as: high technological status (HT), medium technological status (MT) and low technological status (LT). Ninety-three mature cows were treated with either a CIDR (controlled internal drug release device) with estradiol benzoate (CIDR+EB) or alone (CIDR). At day 9 all animals received intravaginally a CIDR for nine days. At day 0, the CIDR was withdrawn and 24 hours later one dose of estradiol benzoate was administered to 51 cows (17 in HT, 17 in MT and 17 in LT), the remaining animals (n = 42) did not receive the estradiol benzoate administration (14 in HT, 13 in MT and 15 in LT). Comparisons were performed on serum progesterone concentrations after CIDR treatment. By day 7 after implant withdrawal, the proportion of cows that resume ovarian activity detected by progesterone concentration increased in all technological level farms, no statistical main effect was observed within technological level. By day 17 there was a significant main effect of technological level (P = 0.05) on the proportion of animal that resumed the estrous cycles, but neither a main effect of treatment (P = 0.97) nor an interaction between technological level and treatment (P = 0.98). Furthermore, technological level of the farm showed a tendency (P = 0.07) to affect that resume the estrous activity, and a significant effect of treatment was observed (P = 0.005) but no interaction between technological level and treatment. The proportion of cows that showed estrus was different across technological level (P = 0.02), the highest proportion of cows showing estrus regardless of treatment was in the HT: 90% (40% CIDR and 50% CIDR+EB), MT: 50% (13.3% CIDR and 36.7% CIDR+EB) and in the LT: 50% (18.8% CIDR and 31.3% CIDR+EB). In conclusion, the combination of a progestogen and estradiol benzoate resulted in a high proportion of cows that were induced to resume the ovarian activity and this treatment was particularly beneficial in the medium and low technological status of the farms.

China Ranking Among the World's Largest Piano Producers

Music from a piano embodies widetechniques of expression, so thepiano is reputed as the king of musicalinstruments. China’s piano production datesback four decades. At present, there are 20piano production enterprises in the county,including such backbone enterprises as theGuangzhou Pearl River Piano IndustrialCorporation, the Beijing Xinghai MusicalInstruments Corporation Ltd., the ShanghaiPiano Corporation, the Yingkou NortheastPiano(Group) Corporation and the

Music Piracy-Music Producers’Views

Stricter laws needed> Gao Xiaosong-music producer Piracy is better described as a global problem, and is not unique to China. You never expect to rid the country of music piracy completely [in a short period].China’s music copyright infringement problems remain more severe than that of

Research on the Grain Producers around the Year of Chinese Population Peak

The issue of "who will grow grain in the future in China" attracts more and more attention. We estimate the structure of China's grain producers at present,and summarize the phenomena and reasons why peasants would not like to grow grain. We analyze the agricultural population at the time of China's total population peak around 2033,and we predict there will be a multi-producer structure of grain growing.The household contracts will be as the basis of grain operations then,and the quantity of small-scale households will decrease but still be huge.The degree of organization of rural households will increase and the role of cooperatives will be strengthened remarkably. We propose the " quality" requirements to ensure the grain production,and note different special groups will be the new forces on farming and grain growing.

Purification of Produced Water from a Sour Oilfield in South Kuwait. 1. Oil-Water Separation and Industrial Salt Production

Produced water from an oil extraction site in South Kuwait was sampled after primary oil – water separation had been carried out. The produced water was filtered through a mixture of activated charcoal and esterified cellulosic material gained from spent coffee grounds as a tertiary adsorption treatment. The earth-alkaline metal ions and heavy metals were separated from the de-oiled produced water by addition of either sodium or potassium hydroxide in the presence of carbon dioxide or by direct addition of solid sodium carbonate. The resulting filtrate gave salt of industrial purity upon selective crystallization on evaporation.

Purification of Produced Water from a Sour Oilfield in South Kuwait. 2. Oil-Water Separation and Crystallization of Calcium Carbonate

Oil-water separation for produced water (PW) originating from an oil extraction site in South Kuwait was carried out using bleached, esterified cellulosic material from used coffee grounds. Thereafter, earth-alkaline metal ions, specifically calcium ions, of the de-oiled PW were removed by precipitation with sodium carbonate to give access to pure sodium chloride as industrial salt from the remaining PW. While the purity of the precipitated calcium carbonate (CaCO3) depends on the precipitation conditions, CaCO3 of up to 95.48% purity can be obtained, which makes it a salable product. The precipitation of CaCO3 decreases the amount of calcium ions in PW from 11,300 ppm to 84 ppm.

Production Chain Length and PPI-CPI Divergence:Analysis Based on the Global Input-output Price Model

Productivity and international energy price shocks are reflected in PPI and CPI via industrial chains.China’s in-depth participation into the global value chains has increasingly lengthened its industrial production chains.The question is how the changing length of production chains will affect CPI and PPI,as well as CPI-PPI correlation?By constructing a global input-output price model,this paper offers a theoretical discussion on the impact of production chain length on the CPI-PPI divergence.Our findings suggest that the price shock of international bulk commodities has a greater impact on China’s PPI than that on CPI.The effects on both China’s PPI and CPI estimated by using the single-country input-output model are higher than the results estimated with the global input-output model.However,the difference between CPI and PPI variations estimated with the global input-output model is greater than the result estimated with the single-country input-output model,which supports the view that the lengthening of production chains,especially international production chains,leads to a divergence between CPI and PPI.Empirical results based on cross-national panel data also suggest that the lengthening of production chains has reduced the CPI-PPI correlation for countries,i.e.the lengthening of production chains has increased the PPI-CPI divergence.That is to say,policymakers should target not just CPI in maintaining price stability,but instead focus on the stability of both PPI and CPI.Efforts can be made to proactively adjust the price index system,and formulate the industrial chain price index.

An ecohealth assessment of poultry production clusters (PPCs) for the livelihood and biosecurity improvement of small poultry producers in Asia

Background:Poultry production cluster(PPC)programs are key strategies in many Asian countries to engage small commercial poultry producers in high-value production chains and to control infectious poultry diseases.This study assessed the multiple impacts of PPCs through a transdisciplinary ecohealth approach in four Asian countries,and drew the implications for small producers to improve their livelihoods and reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases in the poultry sector.Methods:The data collection combined both quantitative and qualitative methods.It comprised:formal structured household survey questionnaires,measuring the biosecurity level of poultry farms with a biosecurity score card;and key informant interviews.Descriptive statistics were used to process the quantitative data and a content analysis was used to process the qualitative data.Results:This research found that poultry farms in clusters do not necessarily have better economic performance than those outside PPCs.Many farmers in PPCs only consider them to be an advantage for expanding the scale of their poultry operations and improving household incomes,and they are less concerned about-and have limited capacities to-enhancing biosecurity and environmental management.We measured the biosecurity level of farms in PPCs through a 14-item checklist and found that biosecurity is generally very low across all sample sites.The increased flies,mosquitoes,rats,and smells in and around PPCs not only pollute the environment,but also cause social conflicts with the surrounding communities.Conclusion:This research concluded that a poultry cluster,mainly driven by economic objectives,is not necessarily a superior model for the control of infectious diseases.The level of biosecurity in PPCs was found to be low.Given the intensity of poultry operations in PPCs(farms are densely packed into clusters),and the close proximity to residential areas of some PPCs,the risk of spreading infectious diseases,in fact,increases.Good management and collective action for implementing biosecurity measures are key for small producers in PPCs to address common challenges and pursue health-based animal production practices.

Variability in Quantity and Salinity of Produced Water from an Oil Production in South Kuwait

Produced water (PW) is the largest waste stream in the oil and gas industry. Water remains trapped for millions of years in the reservoir with oil and gas. When a hydrocarbon reservoir is infiltrated by a production well, the produced fluids commonly contain water. The understanding of this water’s constituents and volumes is vital for the sustainable continuity of production operations, as PW has a number of negative impacts on the infrastructure integrity of the operation. On the other hand, PW can be an alternative source of irrigation water as well as of industrial salt. Interestingly, both the quantity as well as the quality of PW do not remain constant but can vary, both progressively and erratically, even over short periods of time. This paper discusses such a situation of variable PW in an oil and gas operation in the State of Kuwait.

Cobalt Stays at High Price and Net Profits of 4 Major Cobalt Producers in China Doubled in H1 of 2018

As cobalt stayed at high price,net profits of 4major cobalt producers in China realizedsignificant growth in H1 of 2018.According to the semiannual report publishedon the evening of August 28,2018 by HanruiCobalt。

Phosphate Fertilizer Producers Claim for Zero Tariff

To help domestic phosphate fertilizer producer avoid shutdown and bankruptcy,China Phosphate Fertilizer Industry Assoeiation(CPFIA)claims for zero expor-tation tariff since May this year.The current exports tariff for phosphate fertilizers is 110% for fast season and 10% for slow season.(CCR2008 No.34)

Some Domestic Strontium Carbonate Producers Will Be Beaten out

1 Surplus capacity and decreasing profit in 2007 With negative impacts from the recession of the color TV picture tube production and the elimination of the export rebate,China’s strontium carbonate manufacturing sector suffered from oversupply in 2007.Many domestic producers cut their operation rates or shifted to producing other chemicals in order to deal with the slack demand,but the price of strontium carbonate still dropped from around RMB4 200 per ton at the be-ginning of 2007 to around RMB3 200 per ton at the end of the year.As the require-ments for saving energy and reducing pol-lutants get higher and higher,producers

Chemical composition of walnuts from three regions in China

To reveal the characteristic chemicals of walnuts from different origins, we analyzed fatty acid composition,tocopherols, phytosterols and total phenolic content (TPC) of walnuts from three main producing regions inChina. The results showed that walnuts were rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the ratio of ω-6 to ω-3 fattyacids was close to the recommendation of Chinese Nutrition Society. Moreover, walnuts contain high contents oftocopherols (331.20–414.71 mg/kg), phytosterols (97.17–110.35 mg/100 g) and phenols (38.51–48.08 mg GAE/kg). Significant chemical differences exist among walnuts from three production regions. The highest content ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids was found in walnuts from the northern China, the highest content of tocopherols inwalnuts from southwest China, and the highest contents of phytosterol and TPC in walnuts from northwest China.However, there was no significant difference in the tocopherol, phytosterol and TPC content of walnuts betweenthe Northern China and Northwest China. The above results provide important references for manufacturers andconsumers to select suitable walnut scientifically and reasonably.

Urban Expansion in Major Grain Producing Area from 1978 to 2017:A Case Study of Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area,China

The spatial form of urbanization in China has developed from single-core city expansion to a multi-center metropolitan area.However,little attention has been paid to the growth process of the emerging metropolitan area situated in major grain producing locations in the central China.Taking the Zhengzhou metropolitan area(ZZMA)as a case study,we developed an inverse S-shape model to characterize the spatial distribution of urban land density,and constructed an urban expansion core index,urban expansion intensity index,and urban compactness index to quantify the spatial structure change that has taken place from 1978 to 2017 during the process of urban expansion.Moreover,cropland contribution rate(CR)was constructed to evaluate the impacts of urban expansion on croplands.We uncovered four key findings.First,over the past 40 yr,the ZZMA has experienced dramatic expansion,and the central city of Zhengzhou expanded faster than other cities.The gravity centers of urban expansion of surrounding cities were moving toward to Zhengzhou City.Second,the urban land density decreased with the distance from the city center to the outskirts.As the only large city,Zhengzhou has experienced the fastest and most compact centralized urban expansion,especially after 2000,while other medium-and small-sized cities have experienced low-intensity decentralized expansion.Third,the urban core has been gradually expanding outward.From 1978 to 2017,the hot-zone of urban growth has moved progressively with the acceleration of urbanization.All cities except Jiaozuo had a single peak in different periods.Forth,the cities in national core grain-producing areas has higher cropland contribution rates and lower urban expansion areas,which was closely related to cropland protection.Further analysis showed that large city was relatively better positioned than smaller cities in the efficiency of their urban infrastructure and the effectiveness of wealth creation efficiency in the urbanized area could be tested in all cities,and the policy factor seemed to play an important role in the urban expansion process.

Temporal variations in geochemistry of hydraulic fracturing fluid and flowback water in a tight oil reservoir

Hydraulic fracturing facilitates the development and exploitation of unconventional reservoirs.In this study,the injected hydraulic fracturing fluid(HFF)and flowback and produced water(FPW)in tight oil reservoirs of the Lucaogou Formation in the Junggar Basin are temporally sampled from day 1 to day 64.Freshwater is used for fracturing,and HFF is obtained.The chemical and isotopic parameters(including the water type,total salinity,total dissolved solids(TDS),pH,concentrations of Na^(+),Cl^(-),Ba^(+),K^(+),Fe^(2+)+Fe^(3+),and CO_(3)^(2-),dD,and δ^(18)O)are experimentally obtained,and their variations with time are systematically analyzed based on the flowback water.The results show that the water type,Na/Cl ratio,total salinity,and TDS of the FPW change periodically primarily due to the HFF mixing with formation water,thus causing δD and δ^(18)O to deviate from the meteoric water line of Xinjiang.Because of watererock interaction(WRI),the concentrations of Fe^(2+)+Fe^(3+)and CO_(3)^(2-)of the FPW increase over time,with the solution pH becoming more alkaline.Furthermore,based on the significant changes observed in the geochemistry of the FPW,three separate time intervals of flowback time are identified:Stage Ⅰ(<10 days),where the FPW is dominated by the HFF and the changes in ions and isotopes are mainly caused by the WRI;Stage Ⅱ(10-37 days),where the FPW is dominated by the addition of formation water to the HFF and the WRI is weakened;and finally,Stage Ⅲ(>37 days),where the FPW is dominated by the chemistry of the formation water.The methodology implemented in this study can provide critical support for the source identification of formation water.

Recent progress in research and design concepts for the characterization,testing,and photocatalysts for nitrogen reduction reaction

The reduction of molecular nitrogen(N_(2))to ammonia(NH_(3))under mild conditions is one of the most promising studies in the energy field due to the important role of NH_(3)in modern industry,production,and life.The photocatalytic reduction of N_(2)is expected to achieve clean and sustainable NH_(3)production by using clean solar energy.To date,the new photocatalysts for photocatalytic reduction of N_(2)to NH_(3)at room temperature and atmospheric pressure have not been fully developed.The major challenge is to achieve high light-absorption efficiency,conversion efficiency,and stability of photocatalysts.Herein,the methods for measuring produced NH_(3)are compared,and the problems related to possible NH_(3)pollution in photocatalytic systems are mentioned to provide accurate ideas for measuring photocatalytic efficiency.The recent progress of nitrogen reduction reaction(NRR)photocatalysts at ambient temperature and pressure is summarized by introducing charge transfer,migration,and separation in photocatalytic NRR,which provides a guidance for the selection of future photocatalyst.More importantly,we introduce the latest research strategies of photocatalysts in detail,which can guide the preparation and design of photocatalysts with high NRR activity.