Incidence, Severity and Gravity of Cassava Mosaic Disease in Savannah Agro-Ecological Region of DR-Congo: Analysis of Agro-Environmental Factors

African Cassava mosaic disease (ACMD) is the most severe and widespread disease caused by viruses limiting production of the crop in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the present study was to evaluate CMD incidence, severity, and gravity under different agro-environmental conditions. A total of 222 fields were surveyed in 23 different locations. All the farmers grow only local cassava varieties without applications of fertilizers. Overall, mean CMD incidences for all sites surveyed were 58.2% and 51.7%, in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Disease severity ranged from 2.4 to 3.1 on a scale of 1 to 5. Mean disease gravity varied from 29.7% to 62%, in 2010, and 2009, respectively. Detailed analysis of agronomic and environmental revealed no significant association between cassava stand locations, age, land topography and the development of CMD. Likewise intercropping practices and field topping did not affect the development of CMD in all the fields surveyed. There were significant differences in the number of white flies (Bemisia tabaci) per plant in 2009 and 2010, but no significant correlations between the number of B. tabaci per plant and CMD incidence, severity, and gravity was found. In most fields, CMD appears to originate mostly from unhealthy cassava cuttings used for planting.

Economic Growth and Agro-environmental Fragility——Based on the Provincial Panel Data Analysis

The agro-environmental fragility of 31 provinces and regions (except Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan) of our country during the years 1978-2004 is measured by adopting the method of principal component analysis.With the support of analytical model of panel data,regressive analysis is achieved from the aspects of introducing regional differences,not introducing regional differences,existing industrial differences and not existing industrial differences respectively.The conclusion points out that there are both industrial and regional differences in the economic growth effect on the environmental fragility;these differences are reflected on the industrial or regional development levels.The higher the development level it is,the less the effect it is when the economic growth effect on the environmental fragility is negative,the more when the effect is positive,and it will change from being negative to positive when on the critical point;and vice versa.

Use of Farmers’ Indicators to Evaluate the Sustainability of Cropping Systems on Sloping Land in Yunnan Province, China

Diversity in the biophysical and socio-economic attributes of agricultural systems makes them uniquely niche based. Farmers are expert in local biophysical and socio-economic situations and can contribute in developing pragmatic indicators of agro-environmental development. During evaluation of an agricultural research project in Yunnan, China, local farmers were capable of evaluating the effects of modified technologies on existing cropping systems and discussed their attitudes to the interventions using their own indicators. Farmers＇ response can be grouped into seven major aspects： i） effects on income, ii） effects on production resources, iii） effects on crop management, iv） existing local knowledge about the technology, v） availability of inputs, vi） access to information, and vii） socio-economic conditions of farming households. Farmers concluded that environmental conditions in the experimental catchment in comparison to an adjacent untreated catchment were better in terms of soil and water losses, vegetation cover and natural resources, infrastructures and catchment management, use of environmentally-friendly technologies, and crop productivity. Success in soil and water conservation programmes depends on the efforts of the farmers and other local users and their greater involvement helps to identify more pragmatic indicators. Furthermore, it increases ownership of the programme, enhances interactions with the project scientists, increases farmers＇ awareness of ago-environmental problems and their possible consequences. These development will enable scientists to develop better targeted interventions and increase the likelihood of adoption of tested technologies by local communities. The use of paired adjacent catchments improved evaluation activities and is proposed as good practice for future catchment improvement programmes.

Development of Perverse Environmental Subsides for Sheep Production in Iceland

Sheep production in Iceland is heavily subsidized with a part of the payments tied to land condition and compliance with sustainable land use according to a Quality Management System (QMS). A large proportion of the rangelands used for sheep grazing are public lands. The paper is based on Land Improvement Plans (LIP’s) and Soil Conservation of Iceland (SCSI) correspondence obtained by appeal under the Information Act. The results show that “green payments” are made for use of land that fails to meet the criteria given for such payments, based on the extent of barren areas, active soil erosion, and vegetation condition. Strong formal objections by the SCSI about the content and implementation of QMS have been ignored. It is further shown that the land use section of the QMS (L-QMS) is non-transparent and not well scientifically grounded. The use of the term “sustainable land use” is confounded when used to justify the use of collapsed ecosystems. The LIP’s show high to extreme grazing intensities on land in poor condition, thus further defying ideas for green subsidy schemes. The investigation reveals serious conflicts between environmental and agricultural sectors, at agency and ministerial levels, which is enhanced by incoherent legislation structures. It is vital to reconstruct the green subsidies for sheep farming in Iceland, based on science and best available information with a much broader stakeholder participation than at present, involving multi-sectoral agencies and scientists, NGO’s, communities, the general public, and land users.

Global sensitivity analysis for choosing the main soil parameters of a crop model to be determined

The use of a crop model like STICS for appropriate management decision support requires a good knowledge of all the parameters of the model. Among them, the soil parameters are difficult to know at each point of interest and costly techniques may be used to measure them. It is therefore important to know which soil parameters need to be determined. It can be stated that those which affect significantly the output variable deserve an accurate determination while those which slightly affect the model output variable do not. This paper demonstrates how a global sensitivity analysis method based on variance decomposition can be applied on soil parameters in order to divide them in the two categories. The Extended FAST method applied to the crop model STICS and a set of 13 soil parameters first allows to calculate the part of variance explained by each soil parameter (giving global sensitivity indices of the soil parameters) and the coefficient of variation of the output variables (measuring the effect of the parameter uncertainty on each variable). These metrics are therefore used for deciding on the importance of the parameter value measurement. Different output variables (Leaf Area Index and chlorophyll content) are evaluated at different stages of interest while others (crop yield, grain protein content, soil mineral nitrogen) are evaluated at harvest. The analysis is applied on two different annual crops (wheat and sugar beet), two contrasted weather and two types of soil depth. When the uncertainty of the output generated by the soil parameters is large (coefficient of variation > 1/3), only the parameters having a significant global sensitivity indices (higher than 10%) are retained. The results show that the number of soil parameters which deserve an accurate determination can be significantly reduced by the use of this relevant method for appropriate management decision support.

Review of Sustainable Agriculture: Promotion, Its Challenges and Opportunities in Japan

Agricultural ecosystems are the largest managed ecosystem in the world.The sustainable development of agriculture is significant to the reversion of dramatic loss of biological diversity in the world.Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems （GIAHS） project launched by Food and Agriculture Organization （FAO） of the United Nations is among the global efforts to conserve and dynamically manage the specific agricultural knowledge system and landscapes.Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries （MAFF）,Japan stressed the environmental concern of conventional farming practices in Japan in 1992.Noto Peninsula and Sado City were designated as two new GIAHS pilot sites in Japan as part of local level initiative to preserve the traditional agricultural systems in 2011.This paper reviewed the development process of sustainable farming in Japan and analyzed the challenges and new possibilities to its further extension.The current situation of various sustainable farming practices：such as farming with reduced input of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to conserve rich biodiversity,and organic farming,were reviewed.Emphasis was given to the sustainable farming practices in Hokuriku region,in particular,Ishikawa Prefecture and Sado City in Niigata Prefecture.Based on the recent official documents,reports and research papers,policy implication was brought forward.The challenges of sustainable farming practices and market valuation of sustainable farming products were analyzed.It was concluded that the environmental concerns of farmers and consumers are key to extend the sustainable farming practice in Japan.Conversion to bottom up policy making process paying attention to farmers＇interest with involvement of multi stakeholders including government,researchers and private sectors is effective for sustainable farming extension.

Review of the “Law of the People's Republic of China on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products”

One of the characteristics of food safety regulation in China is the separation of agricultural food products（agro-food） from other kinds of food. To this end, a Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products（LQSAP） was enacted to provide for official control at the stage of primary agro-food production. With the enactment and revision of the Food Safety Law, one change in the legislative arrangement is the extension of the scope of this new law to cover the marketing of agro-food and the use of agricultural inputs. However, safety regulation at the stage of primary production of agro-food is still subject to the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products. It is also important to note that thee LQSAP refers both to agro-food and to agricultural products for non-human consumption; and that it provides rules both for safety assurance and for quality promotion. In the context of intensified official control to ensure food safety and diverse consumer needs for food of higher quality, a revision of the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products has been initiated. This article describes the goals of this legislation, its institutional arrangements and the directions the revisions are taking in order to provide a better understanding of food safety regulation in China in general and agro-food regulation in particular.