Agricultural land use change Research Papers (original) (raw)

Gliricidia sepium is considered one of the commonly used multipurpose legume shade trees in Ghana. Different pruning regimes affect the nutrient content as the amount of biomass produced by many multipurpose trees. In this study, the... more

Gliricidia sepium is considered one of the commonly used multipurpose legume shade trees in Ghana. Different pruning regimes affect the nutrient content as the amount of biomass produced by many multipurpose trees. In this study, the aboveground biomass (both fresh and dry matter) production and nitrogen content in Gliricidia sepium under different pruning regimes (4, 8 and 12 weeks) was studied. The study was carried out in the demonstration farm of Department of Agroforestry in the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources-KNUST. A total of nine (9) Gliricidia trees were selected. The pruning frequencies were assigned to the selected trees, after an initial pruning of 1.2m from the ground. The data collected include; new fresh weight, dry weight and nitrogen content at the various pruning time. Also, the amount of nitrogen (N) in the new biomass was estimated at each pruning time. The result shows that the aboveground biomass production increased from 4 weeks to 12 weeks regime. Overall nitrogen concentration increased from 2.61% to 3.58% upon reducing the pruning frequency from 4 to 12 weeks, and total nitrogen content was much higher in 12 weeks (36.01g) than in the other pruning frequencies, due to biomass production been larger. In conclusion, the study highlights the potential of Gliricidia biomass as a source of N and green manure for both agricultural and agroforestry purposes. Hence pruning regime of Gliricidia should be considered in managing it for nutrient and manure purposes.

Java, an island in Indonesia, plays an essential role as the centre of food crop production. However, over the last few decades, the conversion of agricultural land on this island has increased. The pressure on the availability of... more

Java, an island in Indonesia, plays an essential role as the centre of food crop production. However, over the last few decades, the conversion of agricultural land on this island has increased. The pressure on the availability of agricultural land has increased, and the problems regarding farmers’ income have not been appropriately resolved. This research was
conducted to determine the relationship between the availability of agricultural land and farmers’ income on Java Island using structural
equations. The panel data used in this research consist of annual time-series data from 1990–2018 and cross-section data of all provinces in
Java. Furthermore, the data were analysed using a three-stage least-squares model. The results prove that agricultural land availability
and the level of farmers' income simultaneously positively affect each other. Therefore, to maintain the performance of Java Island as the primary producer of food crops in Indonesia, the availability of agricultural land and the level of farmers' income are the main focus areas for improvement.

Ensuring acceptance of dedicated biomass feedstocks by landowners, agricultural communities, environmental and public interest groups, requires that the environmental benefits, concerns, and risks associated with their production be... more

Ensuring acceptance of dedicated biomass feedstocks by landowners, agricultural communities, environmental and public interest groups, requires that the environmental benefits, concerns, and risks associated with their production be quantified. Establishment and management measures to benefit soil and water quality are being identified by ongoing research. Field studies are showing that nutrients are retained within the rooting zone of dedicated feedstocks, subsurface herbicide transport does not occur, and off-site chemical transport is minimal compared with traditional agricultural crops. The amounts and timing of fertilizer application were critical to minimizing off- site transport of nutrients. Maintaining soil cover decreased runoff, sediment losses, and nutrient transport compared with traditional agricultural crops. Conversion of traditional croplands to biomass and no-till crop production improved soil quality and soil carbon storage. Subsurface nutrient losses were less fr...

Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) to maintain or promote environmentally-friendly farming practices were implemented on about 25% of all agricultural land in the EU by 2002. This article analyses and discusses the actual and potential use of... more

Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) to maintain or promote environmentally-friendly farming practices were implemented on about 25% of all agricultural land in the EU by 2002. This article analyses and discusses the actual and potential use of impact models in supporting the design, implementation and evaluation of AES. Impact models identify and establish the causal relationships between policy objectives and policy outcomes. We review and discuss the role of impact models at different stages in the AES policy process, and present results from a survey of impact models underlying 60 agri-environmental schemes in seven EU member states. We distinguished among three categories of impact models (quantitative, qualitative or common sense), depending on the degree of evidence in the formal scheme description, additional documents, or key person interviews. The categories of impact models used mainly depended on whether scheme objectives were related to natural resources, biodiversity or landscape. A higher proportion of schemes dealing with natural resources (primarily water) were based on quantitative impact models, compared to those concerned with biodiversity or landscape. Schemes explicitly targeted either on particular parts of individual farms or specific areas tended to be based more on quantitative impact models compared to whole-farm schemes and broad, horizontal schemes. We conclude that increased and better use of impact models has significant potential to improve efficiency and effectiveness of AES.

Lowland heath is an internationally important habitat type that has greatly declined in abundance throughout Western Europe. In recent years this has led to a growing interest in the restoration of heathland on agricultural land. This... more

Lowland heath is an internationally important habitat type that has greatly declined in abundance throughout Western Europe. In recent years this has led to a growing interest in the restoration of heathland on agricultural land. This generally requires the use of chemical treatments to return soil chemical conditions to those appropriate for the support of heathland ecosystems. However, the potential

Diffuse pollution of water resources from agricultural sources is a major environmental issue in the European Union, and has been dealt with by specific legislation: the Nitrate Directive of 1991 and the Water Framework Directive of 2000.... more

Diffuse pollution of water resources from agricultural sources is a major environmental issue in the European Union, and has been dealt with by specific legislation: the Nitrate Directive of 1991 and the Water Framework Directive of 2000. These attempts to provide a coordinated approach to solving environmental problems require methods and tools for spatial analysis and modelling on a continental scale, with river basins being used as spatial units. This paper presents a screening model (Ag-PIE), developed in a GIS environment, for the assessment of pressures from agricultural land use and the consequent impacts on surface and groundwater. Ag-PIE has been applied at the European scale (EU15), with focus on nitrogen pollution from chemical fertilisers and manure. The model adopts a multi-criteria evaluation procedure applied to spatial data layers which represent the variety of factors affecting the pollution process. The DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact, Responses) approach is applied to provide the modelling approach with a conceptual framework and to further analyse and communicate results. Ag-PIE is ultimately aimed at providing a tool making use of state-of-the-art geographical databases to support policy-makers at the European level. The scale of reference adopted is the river basin, in particular those that extend across national boundaries. The quality of the results obtained has been assessed against existing related studies and monitoring reports and by means of sensitivity analysis. Conclusions are driven by considering the potential of Ag-PIE in devising policy support and its strengths and weaknesses in view of identifying future research needs.

Numerous villages in the European loess belt are confronted with floods caused by runoff from agricultural land. Seventy-nine percent of the municipalities in central Belgium experienced at least one muddy flood during the last decade. Of... more

Numerous villages in the European loess belt are confronted with floods caused by runoff from agricultural land. Seventy-nine percent of the municipalities in central Belgium experienced at least one muddy flood during the last decade. Of these flooded municipalities, 22% have been affected more than 10 times during this period. Twenty municipalities have been selected for a detailed analysis. A database

Commercial afforestation of agricultural land is often associated with social conflict over the perceived environmental, economic and social impacts of the plantations being established. One of the most common solutions suggested to this... more

Commercial afforestation of agricultural land is often associated with social conflict over the perceived environmental, economic and social impacts of the plantations being established. One of the most common solutions suggested to this conflict is a shift from large-scale afforestation by companies and government agencies to small-scale afforestation by individual landholders. Small-scale afforestation by farmers is argued by many to have more positive and fewer negative impacts than large-scale afforestation by non-farmers. However, few studies have examined whether small-scale afforestation is associated with less social conflict than large-scale afforestation. This paper reports results of a recent study that compared afforestation conflicts in two regions: County Leitrim in the Republic of Ireland and the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Considerable afforestation has occurred in both regions in recent decades, and both have also experienced major shifts in the scale and ownership of the plantations being established over time. For both regions, establishment of small-scale farm forest plantations was found to be associated with considerably less social conflict than establishment of large-scale plantations by non-farmers. Some tentative explanations may be given for this pattern, based on comparisons between the two case study regions.

Society’s expectations of farmers in relation to their environmental performance are ever increasing, in general terms and in response to regional challenges. One tool for achieving environmental improvements in agriculture is the design... more

Society’s expectations of farmers in relation to their environmental performance are ever increasing, in general terms and in response to regional challenges. One tool for achieving environmental improvements in agriculture is the design and promotion of region-specific ‘best management practices’ (BMPs). BMPs are conservation practices aimed at reducing diffuse source pollution from agricultural lands and thus improving end-of-catchment water quality. A suite of grazing BMPs was developed for the Burdekin River catchment in Australia, which drains into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. BMPs were developed in a consultative fashion but without explicit consideration of key factors that influence adoption, in particular farmers’ goals and risk perceptions. This paper utilises the data from a survey of 94 graziers in the Burdekin River catchment to explore whether and to what extent motivations and risk perceptions influence the adoption of BMPs. The results demonstrate clear correlations between both motivations, and risk attitudes, and the adoption of BMPs. In particular, strong conservation and lifestyle motivation translates into intrinsic motivation for adoption of conservation practices, while option values prevent strongly economically/financially motivated farmers from adopting in the absence of external incentives. We conclude that a sound understanding of farmers’ motivations and risk attitudes is required—in a regional, industry and environmental context—to tailor public investments aimed at providing relevant improvements in the environmental performance of agriculture.

Tóm tắt: Những thay đổi trong chính sách đất đai từ những thập niên 90 trở lại đây của Việt Nam góp phần đáng kể trong việc tăng nhanh sản lượng nông nghiệp và phát triển nông thôn nói chung và của Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long nói riêng. Mặc... more

Tóm tắt: Những thay đổi trong chính sách đất đai từ những thập niên 90 trở lại đây của Việt Nam góp phần đáng kể trong việc tăng nhanh sản lượng nông nghiệp và phát triển nông thôn nói chung và của Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long nói riêng. Mặc dù vậy, vấn đề nông nghiệp ở Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long vẫn còn chưa thoát khỏi đặc trưng của nền nông nghiệp tiểu nông để chuyển sang nền nông nghiệp hàng hóa. Bài viết này trình bày kết quả của cuộc nghiên cứu về xã hội tiểu nông tại Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long tiến hành năm 2014 tại hai xã Thân Cửu Nghĩa (tỉnh Tiền Giang) và Tân Long (tỉnh Hậu Giang). Bài viết tập trung vào các nội dung: bàn về quy mô sản xuất qua hiện trạng diện tích đất canh tác nông nghiệp; trình bày hiện tượng nông dân không đất với thảo luận thêm nỗ lực của nhóm hộ này trong việc tìm kiếm các nguồn thu nhập phi nông nghiệp; thảo luận về nguồn gốc đất đai, hiện tượng phụ canh, và cuối cùng là phân tích tình trạng sử dụng đất nông nghiệp hiện nay ở hai xã khảo sát. Từ khóa: kinh tế tiểu nông, nguồn gốc đất, phụ canh, nông dân không đất, Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long.

Vetiver grass technology (VGT), which is based on the application of vetiver grass, was first developed by the World Bank for soil and water conservation in India in the 1980s. While this application still has a vital role in agricultural... more

Vetiver grass technology (VGT), which is based on the application of vetiver grass, was first developed by the World Bank for soil and water conservation in India in the 1980s. While this application still has a vital role in agricultural lands, scientific research conducted in the last ten years has clearly demonstrated that VGT is also one of the most

The Vetiver System (VS) is now well accepted and used worldwide for numerous applications. Amongst these, environmental protection applications are the most popular due to its effectiveness, simplicity and low cost. Earlier research... more

The Vetiver System (VS) is now well accepted and used worldwide for numerous applications. Amongst these, environmental protection applications are the most popular due to its effectiveness, simplicity and low cost. Earlier research conducted to understand the role of the extraordinary physiological and morphological attributes of vetiver grass in soil and water conservation, discovered that vetiver grass also possesses some unique attributes highly suitable for treating polluted wastewater from industries as well as domestic discharges and contaminated lands from industries and mining. • VS can reduce the volume or dispose unwanted wastewater by: seepage control, land irrigation and wetland. Successful applications include treatment of: - domestic and municipal sewage effluent and landfill leachate - wastewater from intensive animal farms - industrial wastewater recycling and disposal - industrial and mining seepage. • VS can improve wastewater quality by: trapping debris, sediment...

This study focuses on spatial and temporal nutrient pollution of groundwater in the unconfined sandy aquifers of Kalpitiya peninsula, Sri Lanka, where agricultural activities are intense. The study covers two consecutive dry and rainy... more

This study focuses on spatial and temporal nutrient pollution of groundwater in the unconfined sandy aquifers of Kalpitiya peninsula, Sri Lanka, where agricultural activities are intense. The study covers two consecutive dry and rainy seasons during the period from 2008 to 2010. Nitrate is the dominant nutrient pollutant in groundwater. The values of Nitrate-N contents ranged from 0.60 to 212.40 mg/L in the dry seasons and 0.20–148.50 mg/L in rainy seasons. Phosphate in groundwater ranged from 0.20 to 5.70 mg/L in dry seasons and 0.04–10.35 mg/L with few exceptions in rainy seasons. About 50% of the studied water samples had Nitrate-N concentrations above WHO drinking water guideline values both in dry and rainy periods. These high concentrations were recorded from wells in agricultural lands. Although there is a slight decrease in the Nitrate-N concentrations at random in rainy seasons, an increasing trend of average concentrations became evident over the study period as a whole, probably indicating building up of Nitrate-N in groundwater in the vegetable growing areas. The spatial distribution of Nitrate-N too shows a good match of high Nitrate-N bearing zones with vegetable cultivated areas indicating intensive leaching from application of excessive chemical fertilizers. High Nitrate-N zones also showed fairly steady lateral distribution indicating slow lateral mobility of Nitrate-rich groundwater probably due to low hydraulic gradients. Low phosphate concentrations in both groundwater and surface soils either indicates their less use in the area or that the available phosphate is leached and removed from the aquifer water and (sandy) soil solutions and probably adsorbed in clayey deeper horizons. Low concentrations of major cations (especially K, Ca, and Na) indicate less impact on cation concentrations in groundwater by the fertilizer application or sea water intrusions/up-coning.

Human influences strongly affect the Earth Surface, environment and impact natural resources. To reduce the disadvantages, we have to monitor the human activities as well as the environment. Considering the rapid increase of population... more

Human influences strongly affect the Earth Surface, environment and impact natural resources. To reduce the disadvantages, we have to monitor the human activities as well as the environment. Considering the rapid increase of population the loss of agricultural land is a very dangerous situation for the future of the country. Multi temporal Remote Sensing data is the most powerful tool for mapping and monitoring the land use changes and GIS is the best way to store and reproduce various kinds of integrated data. The aim of this study is to determine agricultural land loss and environmental changes caused by urban sprawl and industrialization using the Multi temporal Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). A major problem of rapid urban growth is changing land use patterns. Agricultural lands are most affected by rapid urbanization and its functions of demand. In this study, a database will create the parameters of land loss and environmental changes by means of field observation, interpretation of satellite images like Landsat-ETM+, LISS IV .Through this study, which aimed to reveal the characteristics of the areas of land already lost as well as the types of land use in the hosur city and to determine geographically the remaining areas in need of protection, local authorities were provided with the required data support.