Location and Characterization of Breeding Sites of Solitary Desert Locust Using Satellite Images Landsat 7 ETM+ and Terra MODIS

In the southern Algerian Sahara, populations of the desert locust have been monitored during the past 43 years. On a limited study area, the use of remote sensing data from Landsat 7 ETM+ and Terra MODIS, coupled with the locust population database, allowed the identification and mapping of solitary desert locust breeding areas during remission periods. These sites are mainly located in wadis and in areas of accumulation/spreading of rainwater. The use of this methodology to all the Algerian Sahara is surely possible in order to improve the preventive management of this pest.

Climate Change Adaptation and Vulnerability: A Case of Rain Dependent Small-Holder Farmers in Selected Districts in Zambia

Food crop production by small-holder farmers in Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change, given high dependence on rainfall coupled with limited adaptive capacity. In Zambia, smallholder farmers contribute about 79% of national stable food requirements particularly maize. This paper attempted to establish levels of food security in each of the three agro-ecological zones of Zambia, and evaluated the current adaptive measures of rain dependent small-holder farmers against climate change risks. The challenges farmers are facing in adapting to the change risks were identified and livelihood vulnerability assessed. The findings indicate that rain dependent small-holder farmers in Zambia are highly vulnerable to weather related shocks which impact greatly on their food production;and that the levels of vulnerability vary across gender and per agro-ecological zone. After the evaluation of scenarios including staple food crop yields (maize), the authors conclude that most rain-fed small-holder farmers in Zambia (about 70%) are facing considerable hardships in adapting to the changing climate, which in turn, undermines their contribution to food security. While efforts by government have been made to assist farmers towards climate change adaptation, there still remains many challenges to achieve the desired outcomes. Most farmers (66%) are unable to afford certain alternatives, such as those of agro-forestry or conservation. Difficulties in accessing markets, poor road infrastructure, fluctuating market prices, high costs and late deliveries of farming in-puts were found to be among the major challenges that farmers are facing in Zambia. There are also no systematic early warning systems in place against natural hazards and disasters. This makes farming a difficult undertaking in Zambia.

Grain Hermetic Storage Adoption in Northern Uganda: Awareness, Use, and the Constraints to Technology Adoption

Post-harvest storage losses (PHLs) remain significant in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to several factors mainly insect pests and molds. Hermetic storage technologies (HSTs) are being promoted to address these storage losses. In Uganda, HSTs were first introduced in 2012. However, its use among farming households remains low today. Data were collected from 306 smallholder farmers from four districts of Northern Uganda using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire to understand their knowledge, use, and constraints to the adoption of hermetic storage. A multivariate Logit regression model was used to find the significance of the factors affecting adoption. Results showed low awareness and use of hermetic storage among smallholder farmers. Only 53.3% of the interviewed farmers were aware of the use of hermetic storage for grain storage. The SuperGrain bag was the most known form of hermetic storage (35.3%), followed by the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag (34.9%), metallic silo (15.5%), and plastic silo (14.4%). Hermetic storage use was even lower as only 17.6% of the surveyed farmers were using one or more forms of hermetic storage to store their grains. Insect pest management without chemical insecticides was the main reason (83.1%) for hermetic storage use. About 75.5% of those aware of hermetic storage had received training in the technology. Hermetic storage use in farming households led to improved food availability, household income, and nutrition. Lack of local availability (50.2%), high costs (37.8%), and inadequate knowledge (6.9%) were the main constraints hindering the adoption of hermetic storage in Northern Uganda. The logit regression models showed that only training in hermetic storage significantly (p = 0.002) affected farmers’ decision to adopt hermetic storage. Understanding the factors that constrain the adoption of HSTs could provide policymakers with important information to initiate and design policies and programs aimed at reducing crop storage losses.

Towards a better understanding of pathways of multiple co-occurring erosion processes on global cropland

Soil erosion is a complex process involving multiple natural and anthropic agents,causing the deterio-ration of multiple components comprising soil health.Here,we provide an estimate of the spatial pat-terns of cropland susceptibility to erosion by sheet and rill,gully,wind,tillage,and root crops harvesting and report the co-occurrence of these processes using a multi-model approach.In addition,to give a global overview of potential future changes,we identify the locations where these multiple concurrent soil erosion processes may be expected to intersect with projected dry/wet climate changes by 2070.Of a modelled 1.48 billion hectares(B ha)of global cropland,our results indicate that 0.56 B ha(-36%of the total area)are highly susceptible(classes 4 and 5)to a single erosion process,0.27 B ha(-18%of the total area)to two processes and 0.02 B ha(1.4%of the total area)to three or more processes.An estimated 0.82 B ha of croplands are susceptible to possible increases in water(0.68 B ha)and wind(0.14 B ha)erosion.We contend that the presented set of estimates represents a basis for enhancing our founda-tional knowledge on the geography of soil erosion at the global scale.The generated insight on multiple erosion processes can be a useful starting point for decision-makers working with ex-post and ex-ante policy evaluation of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 15(Life on Land)activities.Scientifically,this work provides the hitherto most comprehensive assessment of soil erosion risks at the global scale,based on state-of-the-art models.