Smart Technologies for Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture


Book Description

Smart Technologies for Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture: Upscaling in Developing Countries defines integrated climate smart agricultural technologies (ICSAT) as a suite of interconnected techniques and practices that enhance quantity and quality of agricultural products with minimum impact on the environment. These ICSAT are centered on three main pillars, increased production and income, adaptation and resilience to climate change, and minimizing GHG emissions. This book brings together technologies contributing to the three pillars, explains the context in which they can be scaled up, and identifies research and development gaps as areas requiring further investigation. It stresses the urgency in critically analyzing and recommending ICSAT and scaling out the efforts of both developing and disseminating these in an integrated manner. The book discusses, synthesizes, and offers alternative solutions to agriculture production systems and socio-economic development. It brings together biophysical and socioeconomic disciplines in evaluating suitable ICSAT in an effort to help reduce poverty and food insecurity. - Highlights the research gaps and opportunities on climate smart agricultural technologies and institutional arrangements - Provides information on institutional engagements that are inclusive of value chain actors that support partnerships and the development of interactive platforms - Elaborates some of the effects of climate extremes on production and socioeconomic development on small farms whose impact has potentially large impact




Smart Agriculture for Developing Nations


Book Description

This book in its eighteen chapters provides sustainable and smart technology-based solutions to developing nations. Smart farming is growing in importance due to the increasing demand for higher crop yield, the need for using natural resources efficiently, the rising use and sophistication of information and communication technology and the increasing need for climate-smart agriculture. Some of these chapters deal with the applications of smart agriculture to address the special challenges of the Small Island Developing States for sustainable agriculture. The book brings together scientific communities from India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Palestine, Sri Lanka and South Africa to share their expertise to make the farming system more connected and intelligent. The smart farming techniques shared in different chapters not only help to reduce the overall cost and improve the quality and quantity of products but altogether help improve the sustainability of agriculture in the developing world. ‘Smart Farming’ is a management concept focused on providing the agricultural industry with the infrastructure to leverage advanced technologies—including artificial intelligence (AI), big data, robotics, drones and Internet of Things (IoT)—for tracking, monitoring, automating and analyzing operations. Sometimes known as precision agriculture, smart farming is software managed and sensor monitored.




Climate-smart Agriculture Sourcebook


Book Description

"Climate-smart agriculture, forestry and fisheries (CSA), contributes to the achievement of sustainable development goals. It integrates the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) by jointly addressing food security and climate challenges. It is composed of three main pillars: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; reducing and/or removing greenhouse gases emissions, where possible. The purpose of the sourcebook is to further elaborate the concept of CSA and demonstrate its potential, as well as limitations. It aims to help decision makers at a number of levels (including political administrators and natural resource managers) to understand the different options that are available for planning, policies and investments and the practices that are suitable for making different agricultural sectors, landscapes and food systems more climate-smart. This sourcebook is a reference tool for planners, practitioners and policy makers working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries at national and subnational levels." -- Back cover.




Smart Farming Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Development


Book Description

In order to meet food needs, farmers need to integrate the latest technologies enabling them to make more informed decisions. Smart Farming Technologies for Sustainable Agricultural Development provides innovative insights into the latest farming advancements in terms of informatics and communication. The content within this publication represents the work of topics such as sensor systems, wireless communication, and the integration of the Internet of Things in agriculture-related processes. It is a vital reference source for farmers, academicians, researchers, government agencies, technology developers, and graduate-level students seeking current research on smart farming technologies.




Climate-smart agriculture case studies 2021


Book Description

This publication describes climate-smart agriculture (CSA) case studies from around the world, showing how the approach is implemented to address challenges related to climate change and agriculture. The case studies operationalize the five action points for CSA implementation: expanding the evidence base for CSA, supporting enabling policy frameworks, strengthening national and local institutions, enhancing funding and financing options, and implementing CSA practices at field level. The publication provides examples of the innovative roles that farmers, researchers, government officials, private sector agents and civil society actors can play to transform food systems and help meet the Sustainable Development Goals; it also demonstrates how these actors can collaborate. The case studies discuss context-specific activities that sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes, adapt and build resilience of people and food systems to climate change, and reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas emissions where possible.




Biochar Systems for Smallholders in Developing Countries


Book Description

This report offers a review of what is known about opportunities and risks of biochar systems in developing countries. Its aim is to fill in critical knowledge gaps between the biochar research community and development practicioners on the ground.




Advanced Biosensors for Health Care Applications


Book Description

Advanced Biosensors for Health Care Applications highlights the different types of prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers associated with cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, brain and retinal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, bacterial infections, as well as various types of electrochemical biosensor techniques used for early detection of the potential biomarkers of these diseases. Many advanced nanomaterials have attracted intense interests with their unique optical and electrical properties, high stability, and good biocompatibility. Based on these properties, advanced nanoparticles have been used as biomolecular carriers, signal producers, and signal amplifiers in biosensor design. Recent studies reported that there are several diagnostic methods available, but the major issue is the sensitivity and selectivity of these approaches. This book outlines the need of novel strategies for developing new systems to retrieve health information of patients in real time. It explores the potential of nano-multidisciplinary science in the design and development of smart sensing technology using micro-nanoelectrodes, novel sensing materials, integration with MEMS, miniaturized transduction systems, novel sensing strategy, that is, FET, CMOS, System-on-a-Chip (SoC), Diagnostic-on-a-Chip (DoC), and Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC), for diagnostics and personalized health-care monitoring. It is a useful handbook for specialists in biotechnology and biochemical engineering. - Describes advanced nanomaterials for biosensor applications - Relates the properties of available nanomaterials to specific biomarkers applications - Includes diagnosis and electrochemical studies based on biosensors - Explores the potential of nano-multidisciplinary science to design and develop smart sensing technologies - Describes novel strategies for developing a new class of assay systems to retrieve the desired health information




Artificial Intelligence and IoT-Based Technologies for Sustainable Farming and Smart Agriculture


Book Description

As technology continues to saturate modern society, agriculture has started to adopt digital computing and data-driven innovations. This emergence of “smart” farming has led to various advancements in the field, including autonomous equipment and the collection of climate, livestock, and plant data. As connectivity and data management continue to revolutionize the farming industry, empirical research is a necessity for understanding these technological developments. Artificial Intelligence and IoT-Based Technologies for Sustainable Farming and Smart Agriculture provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of critical technological solutions within the farming industry. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as crop monitoring, precision livestock farming, and agronomic data processing, this book is ideally designed for farmers, agriculturalists, product managers, farm holders, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, industrialists, governmental professionals, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on technological applications within agriculture and farming.




Sustainable Intensification


Book Description

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.




A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems


Book Description

Public support mechanisms for agriculture in many cases hinder the transformation towards healthier, more sustainable, equitable, and efficient food systems, thus actively steering us away from meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement. This report sets out the compelling case for repurposing harmful agricultural producer support to reverse this situation, by optimizing the use of scarce public resources, strengthening economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ultimately driving a food systems transformation that can support global sustainable development commitments. The report provides policymakers with an updated estimate of past and current agricultural producer support for 88 countries, projected up until 2030. The trends emerging from the analysis are a clear call for action at country, regional and global levels to phase out the most distortive, environmentally and socially harmful support, such as price incentives and coupled subsidies, and redirecting it towards investments in public goods and services for agriculture, such as research and development and infrastructure, as well as decoupled fiscal subsidies. Overall, the analysis highlights that, while removing and/or reducing harmful agricultural support is necessary, repurposing initiatives that include measures to minimize policy trade-offs will be needed to ensure a beneficial outcome overall. The report confirms that, while a few countries have started repurposing and reforming agricultural support, broader, deeper, and faster reforms are needed for food systems transformation. Thus, it provides guidance (in six steps) on how governments can repurpose agricultural producer support – and the reforms this will take.