The Basic Indexes and Practices of Regional Ecological Agricultural Construction in Dabie Mountains——A Case Study of Huanggang,Hubei

Taking Huanggang city as an example, the requirements of basic indexes for the regional ecological agricultural construction in Dabie Mountains were ana- lyzed and the measures that must be taken in implementing the in the Dabie Mountains were proposed.

Feasibility Analysis of Agricultural Product Price Index Insurance Based on Pilot Cases

Agricultural product price index insurance is a kind of index insurance. It avoids defects of traditional agricultural insurance,such as moral hazards,adverse selection,and high management cost. On the basis of studying agricultural product price index insurance of all areas of China,this paper analyzed characteristics of agricultural product price index insurance from object selection,product object,premium design,and policy support,and discussed feasibility of extending agricultural product price index insurance in an all-round way.

Agricultural intensity for sustainable regional development:A case study in peri-urban areas of Karawang Regency,Indonesia

Peri-urban areas are playing an increasingly crucial role in the agricultural development and intensification in Indonesia.Peri-urban agriculture is highly vulnerable to change compared with urban and rural agriculture,due to its location in transitional areas.Indicators of peri-urban agricultural intensity can help guide regional development.In this study,we assessed the sustainability of peri-urban areas based on agricultural intensity in Karawang Regency,Indonesia.We developed a village-based index to assess the region’s agricultural intensity by rescaling the village agriculture index(VAI)and combining the local sustainability index(LSI)with factor analysis.Since the unit of analysis is the village,we modified the LSI to the village sustainability index(VSI).In addition,we also developed a logical matrix analysis to determine the level of agricultural sustainability(LoAS)of each village.The combined results of the three indices(VAI,VSI,and LoAS)generated information about agricultural sustainability.The results indicated that peri-urban villages with high agricultural intensity tended to exhibit low levels of social welfare,economic development,and disaster risk.Moreover,high agricultural intensity did not necessarily ensure the prosperity of the people.Instead,there was the economic disparity among the villages in the study area.Encouraging diversity of agricultural intensity seems to be more critical than promoting agricultural intensity itself.Overall,this study highlights the distinctive characteristics and dynamic of peri-urban areas.New approaches,variables,and information regarding the combination of agricultural intensity and sustainability need to be developed as valuable tools for regional planning.

Stipulation of the criteria for the construction of eco agricultural county in China

The criteria for the construction of an eco agricultural county in China were suggested. The criteria should coordinate social, economic, and environmental effects together. At first, it emphasizes on the social effect input into the system, which includes population control, cultural, scientific, and moral education, technical training and so on. Secondly, economic criteria are mainly those of the increase of gross national product(GNP) and income per capita every year. Finally, the technical criteria consist of not only the grain yield, commodity percentage of the agricultural product, cultivated output/input, animal husbandry production value/total agricultural production value and other agricultural criteria, but also environmental criteria, such as the percentage of forest and grass cover, degenerated land under control, recycling of organic waste, recommended fertilization, integrated pest management, treatment of discharged wastes and others. In an eco agricultural system, the realization of these criteria by three different development steps were recommended too.

Research on the Key Factors of Agricultural Climate in Cultivation Division of High-quality Tobacco in Qianxinan

[Objective] This research was to provide technical guidance for the cultivation of high-quality tobacco in Qianxinan area.[Method] Through analyzing the conditions of main tobacco cultivation areas in Qianxinan including temperature,precipitation and sunshine,the influence factors of tobacco yield and quality in Qianxinan were investigated.[Result] The altitude of Division I was 450-1 650 m,its days with temperature equal to or higher than 20℃ were about 80 d,its active accumulated temperature was 1 200-2 100℃ and its annual average temperature was 13.5-14.6℃.The altitude of Division II was 1 300-1 450 m,its days with temperature equal to or higher than 20℃ were about 110 d,its active accumulated temperature was 2 100-2 700℃ and its annual average temperature was 14.6-16.3℃.The altitude of Division III was 1 050-1 300 m,its days with temperature equal to or higher than 20℃ were about 150 d,its active accumulated temperature was 2 700-3 600℃ and its annual average temperature was 16.3-17.0℃.Division IV was divided into 2 areas,the altitude of Area 1 was lower than 1 000 m,its days with temperature equal to or higher than 20℃ were more than 160 d,its active accumulated temperature was higher than 3 600℃ and its annual average temperature was higher than 17.5℃;the altitude of Area 2 was higher than 1 700 m,its days with temperature equal to or higher than 20℃ were basically none and its annual average temperature was lower than 1.30℃.[Conclusion] In this research,the agricultural climate index conditions for cultivation of high-quality tobacco in areas at different altitudes were suggested and some references were provided for developing tobacco production in Guizhou.

Measuring the agricultural sustainability of India:An application of Pressure-State-Response(PSR)model

Analyzing agricultural sustainability is essential for designing and assessing rural development initiatives.However,accurately measuring agricultural sustainability is complicated since it involves so many different factors.This study provides a new suite of quantitative indicators for assessing agricultural sustainability at regional and district levels,involving environmental sustainability,social security,and economic security.Combining the PressureState-Response(PSR)model and indicator approach,this study creates a composite agricultural sustainability index for the 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions of India.The results of this study show that the Trans-Gengatic Plain Region(TGPR)ranks first in agricultural sustainability among India's 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions,while the Eastern Himalayan Region(EHR)ranks last.Higher livestock ownership,cropping intensity,per capita income,irrigation intensity,share of institutional credit,food grain productivity,crop diversification,awareness of minimum support price,knowledge sharing with fellow farmers,and young and working population,as well as better transportation facilities and membership of agricultural credit societies are influencing indicators responsible for higher agricultural sustainability in TGPR compared with EHR.Although,the scores of environmental sustainability indicators of EHR are quite good,its scores of social and economic security indicators are fairly low,putting it at the bottom of the rank of agricultural sustainability index among the 14 mainstream agroclimatic regions in India.This demonstrates the need of understanding agricultural sustainability in relation to social and economic dimensions.In a nation as diverse and complicated as India,it is the social structure that determines the health of the economy and environment.Last but not least,the sustainability assessment methodology may be used in a variety of India's agro-climatic regions.

Evolution Rules of Urban-rural Development and Inspiration for China's Agriculture

Based on urban-rural contrast coefficient,this article designs the agriculture relative development index(ARDI) as indicators measuring the intensity of urban-rural dual structure which is comparable among the countries of the world.This article calculates ARDI of 40 countries from 1980 to 2004.The result shows that ARDI in the developed countries and most of the middle-income countries are rising and yet there are declines in most of the low-income countries.The result also showed that most countries' ARDI will see a decline at the earlier stage of industrialization,so their dual economic structure will also aggravate and urban-rural gap will widen.With the economic development,the tendency will change and ARDI presents a U-shape change overall.The turning point is when a country becomes a middle-income one.

Spatially precise reconstruction of cropland areas in Heilongjiang Province, northeast China during 1900-1910

It is necessary to reconstruct past changes in land use and land cover to under- stand the historical effects of humans on climate and the local environment. We collected information from historical documents on the cropland area at the county level for Heilongji- ang Province, northeast China during 1900-1910. The original records from different histori- cal documents were calibrated with each other. We then defined an agricultural suitability index quantified by the distance from settlements, the slope and complexity of the topography, and the distance from rivers. Following the order of the agricultural suitability index from high to low values, the documented areas of cropland at the county level were then allocated into 1 km x 1 km cells. The area of cropland in 2009 was then retrieved from Landsat ETM＋ images and compared with the areas of cropland during 1900-1910 to determine the human-induced changes in land use and land cover. In this period, the total area of cropland was about 25,397 km2 and this mainly occurred in the mid-southern part of Heilongjiang, in particular the six counties of Hailun, Bayan, Wuchang, Hulan, Shuangcheng and Wangkui. In 2009, the total area of cropland had increased to about 163,808 km2 and had spread over the south- western part to the central and northeastern parts of Heilongjiang. The area of cropland had therefore increased by about 138,411 km2 during the 20th century. The proportion of land used as cropland increased from about 5.6% during 1900-1910 to about 36.2% in 2009, indicating that about 30.6% of the natural land surface in Heilongjiang was replaced by cropland. A total of about 44% （60,962 km2） of the cropland was converted from forest, mainly on the western edge and in the northeastern part of the present-day agricultural area. These areas of cropland reconstructed from historical records for the period 1900-1910 could be used as a basic data set to study the effects of agricultural development on climate and the local environment.