Proven techniques of soil moisture conservation were imposed in two consecutive seasons (2002 and 2003) under a rainfed alfisol ecosystem in order to investigate the physiological response of cowpea as the test crop. The impulsive variations in soil moisture status with reference to these techniques were found to influence the physiological and biochemical parameters of cowpea significantly. Mu...

Currently, Sub-Sahara is experiencing increased frequency of disasters either as floods or droughts which diverts scarce resources, time and efforts from other sustainable millennium development goals. Success in preventing food shortages in African continent will only be achieved if we understand the vulnerability and risk of the majority of small-holder farmers under rainfed and supplemental ...

Significant increases in rice production can be obtained in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by increasing rice grain yield in existing production systems, expanding rice harvested area, and reducing harvest and postharvest losses. However, availability of labour at critical times is often a major constraint, and this situation is aggravated by the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Delays during harves...

Improving crop yields are essential to meet the increasing pressure of global food demands. The loss of high quality land, the slowing in annual yield increases of major cereals, increasing fertilizer use, and the effect of this on the environment all indicate that we need to develop new strategies to increase grain yields with less impact on the environment. One strategy that could help addres...

abstract:background and objectivesenvironmental is one of the most important components of global macro policies, therefore, one of the main prerequisite of many activities in macro level is compatibility with environment. environmental pollution is one of the most significant challenges that is faced by human society in 21st century. agriculture sector compare to the other other sectors of eco...

As planetary boundaries are rapidly being approached, humanity has little room for additional expansion and conventional intensification of agriculture, while a growingworld population further spreads the food gap. Ample evidence exists that improved on-farmwatermanagement can close water-related yield gaps to a considerable degree, but its global significance remains unclear. In this modeling ...

in the vast rainfed regions, diminishing returns from the public irrigation systems, climate change induced chaotic fluctuations in the hydrologic regimes and a large demand-supply gap in non-cereal food items are all compelling reasons for the need to realise the production potential of rainfed farming areas. Little control over the rainfall and absence of suitable mechanisms for storing or co...

Production and area of chickpea are reducing every year in India due tocompetition with horticulture and other cash crops in irrigated areas. There is a greatscope for expanding chickpea production with or without limited irrigation in rainfedrice fallow lands (RRFL) in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Nineteenchickpea genotypes were tested using participatory varietal selection (...

EPTD Discussion Papers contain preliminary material and research results, and are circulated prior to a full peer review in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most Discussion Papers will eventually be published in some other form, and that their content may also be revised. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Susanne Neubert and John Pender for h...

In many low-income countries, agriculture is mostly rainfed and yields highly depend on climatic factors. Furthermore, farmers have little access to traditional crop insurance, which suffers from high information asymmetry and transaction costs. Insurances based on meteorological indices could fill this gap since they do not face such drawbacks. However their implementation has been slow so far...