Sustainable Agricultural Development: Recent Approaches in Resources Management and Environmentally-Balanced Production Enhancement

Co-edited by Mohamed Behnassi, Shahid A. Shabbir and Joyce D’silva. Published by Springer,  2011.

Link to Springer page

DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE OF THE WORK

Most of the developing countries are situated in water scarce region, where water resources are fully exploited and non renewable resources are being rapidly depleted. This necessitates the use of marginal water resources (saline and brackish) and lands for agriculture production. Under these poor conditions the resources cannot be fully exploited to their original production capacity to support sustainable agriculture to meet the present and burgeoning population’s food demands on a long term basis. This requires understanding of resource capacity to formulate management options to increase resource quality for better crop production. Climate change will further affect rainfall amounts, frequency and patterns, and duration (rainfall becomes less reliable). The Green house effect (GHE) is likely to increase evapotranspiration, thus crop water demand will definitely be increased, leading to ultimate change in cropping patterns and yield declines. Immediate impacts will be on dry land farming in Africa, specifically in Ethiopia where less than one per cent of total cultivated lands are irrigated and the rest of cultivation is rain-fed, therefore, dry areas are likely to even get drier and too hot for certain crops. By 2020, yields from rain-fed agriculture in some African countries are projected to reduce by up to 50 percent; thus increasing food insecurity and hunger; and 75 to 250 million peoples are predicted to be exposed to water stress due to climate change. Sustainable agriculture should be taken as an eco-system approach, where soil–water–plants–environment-living beings live in harmony with a well balanced equilibrium of food chains and their related energy balances. It is essential that innovative technologies are used to ensure sustainable agriculture and productivity using, modern irrigation systems, improved varieties, improved soil quality, and conserving the environment using resource conservation technologies (RCT).

In the livestock sector, there are dual problems: livestock contribute nearly a fifth of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and may also be among the first to suffer from the effects of climate change, as recent droughts in sub-Saharan Africa have shown. One solution is to increase the productivity of farm animals, yet this cannot be proposed in isolation. The vast majority of broiler (meat) chickens and dairy cows now suffer severe health and welfare stresses due to selective breeding for higher productivity and yield. There is a case for the developed world to reduce consumption of animal products according to a contraction and convergence model, which would allow for developing countries to increase consumption to an agreed sustainable level.

The Book not only raises the serious ethical and social issues underlying these huge environmental problems but also aims to present success stories from all over the world to help researchers to conduct R & activities based on the results presented, and also help transfer of  established technologies/results to different countries where similar agro-climatic conditions may exist, saving precious resources and helping to achieve sustainable agriculture and increased crop production.

The Book differs from the already published books in following ways:

• It covers a range of topics related to sustainable agriculture, resource management and conservation, climate change by giving live examples from around the world as envisaged from participation to Agadir Conference.
• Most topics are covered from water scarce countries where food security is a major issue. Most of these countries are from Third world. Some examples are from developed countries.
• A way forward for transfer of technology to similar areas of the world.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• FOREWORD
• PREFACE (Shahid A. Shabbir, Joyce D’Silva, and Mohamed Behnassi)

PART I: SUSTAINABLE USE OF LAND RESOURCES AS A POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1- Land Resource Governance from a Sustainability and Rural Development Perspective

Mohamed Behnassi and Sanni Yaya

Chapter 2- Land-Grabbing and Potential Implications for World Food Security

Shepard Daniel

Chapter 3- Turning Adversity into Advantage for Food Security Through Improving Soil Quality and Providing Production Systems for Marginal Saline Lands: ICBA Perspectives and Approach

Shabbir A. Shahid, Faisal K. Taha, Shoaib Ismail, Abdullah Dakheel, and Mahmoud Abdelfattah

Chapter 4-Reforestation - Quality Improvement of Contaminated Mining Soil

Olaf  Pollmann and Leon van Rensburg

Chapter 5-The Zooecological Remediation of Technogen Faulted Soil in Industrial Region of Ukraine Steppe Zone

Yuriy Kul’bachko, Iryna Loza, Olexandr Pakhomov, Oleg Didur

Chapter 6-Development of New Technological Approach to Mitigate Salinization

Maybelle Gaballah, Mostafa Rady, Abu Bakr Mahmoud Gomaa, and Magdy Abdel Hameid

Chapter 7-A policy framework for Sustainable Utilisation of Farmland for Waterberg District Municipality in South Africa

Charles Nhemachena, James Chakwizira, Mac Mashiri, and Sipho Dube

PART II : SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES AS A PREREQUISITE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 8- Sustainable Rural Development and Participatory Approach by On-Farm Water Management Techniques

Ijaz Rasool Noorka

Chapter 9-Sustainable Water Management for Irrigated Rice Production

Smakgahn Kruamas

Chapter 10-Reduction of Water Losses by Use of Alternative Irrigation Techniques in the Aral Sea Drainage Basin

Rebecka Törnqvist and Jerker Jarsjö

PART III: RECENT INNOVATIVE PROCESSES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Chapter 11- Use of Surface Modified Inorganic Nano Materials as Slow Release Nitrogen Fertilizer

Bhardwaj Deepesh and Radha Tomar

Chapter 12- Organic Fertilizer Use in Northeastern Thailand: An Analysis of Some Factors Affecting Farmers’ Attitudes

Seksak Chouichom and Masahiro Yamao

Chapter 13-Imitating Nature to Enrich Waste with New Values and Use it as a New Resource

Clara Ceppa

PART IV: RECENT INNOVATIVE PROCESSES IN LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Chapter 14-Farm Animal Breeding: The Implications of Existing and New Technologies

Joyce D’Silva and Peter Stevenson

Chapter 15-Animal Husbandry in Focus of Sustainability

András Nábrádi, Hajnalka Madai, and Nagy Adrián

Chapter 16-Effect of Urea Treated Sorghum Stover Supplemented with Local Protein Sources on the Performance of Sheep

Fithawi Mehari Gebremariam and Goitom Asghedom

Chapter 17- Evaluation of Spineless Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indicus) as an Alternative Feed and Water Source for Animals During Dry Season in Eritrea

Habteab S. Teklehaimanot and J. P. Tritschler

Chapter 18- Comparative Feeding Value of Halophyte as Alternative Animal Feed for Small Ruminants in Eritrea

Kal’ab N. Tesfa and  Fithawi Mehari

Chapter 19- The Effect of Feeding Ensilages of Poultry Litter with Left Over Bread on the Body Weight of Barka Cattle

Tekeste Abraham and Goitom Asghedom

POSTFACE

Shabbir A. Shahid, Mohamed Behnassi, and Joyce D’Silva

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS