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Decoding the Secrets of Agricultural Light, Heat, and Water Resources in Beijing Under Climate Change: Spatio-Temporal Variations on a Small Scale and Future Prospects
by Hongrun Liu 1ORCID,Yanan Tian 1,He Zhao 1,Song Liu 1,Ning Zhu 2,Yanfang Wang 1,Wei Li 1,Dan Sun 1,Tianqun Wang 1,Lifeng Li 2,Shangjun Wu 1,Fudong Wang 1 andXihong Lei 1,*
1
Beijing Agricultural Technology Extension Station, Beijing 100029, China
2
Beijing Changping District Agricultural Technology Extension Station, Beijing 102299, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Agriculture 2025, 15(4), 371; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15040371 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 22 December 2024 / Revised: 1 February 2025 / Accepted: 6 February 2025 / Published: 10 February 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Ecosystem, Environment and Climate Change in Agriculture)
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Abstract
As an international metropolis, Beijing still plays a key role in the development of national agricultural production technology despite its small regional scale. Climate change has a great impact on agricultural production. Previous studies often focus on a single short-term meteorological factor and lack a more systematic analysis of climate resources in Beijing. Based on the daily temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and sunshine hours of 17 meteorological stations in Beijing in the past 42 years, this study analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of agro-climatic resources and predicted the future climate change trend under different climate scenarios. The climate resource tendency rate is calculated on a time scale of every ten years (10a). The results showed that (1) the light resources are decreasing at a rate of 44.9~156.3 MJ m−2 10 a−1, and the downward trends in light resources in the northeastern plain areas as well as in June and July are more significant; (2) the thermal resources are increasing at a rate of 34.2~176.4 °C·d 10 a−1, and the upward trends in thermal resources in the southeastern plain areas and in March are more remarkable; (3) the water resources represented by the soil humidity index are changing at a rate of −1.6~6.1% 10 a−1. The situation is complex, and the fluctuations of water resources in the central and western regions as well as in July, August and September are more significant; and (4) compared with the low-emission “dual carbon” scenario, the decrease in water volume and the overall increase in temperature in the high-carbon scenario are larger, and this trend is particularly obvious in the long run. This study provides a basis for Beijing’s agricultural layout and response to climate change, and its methods and results are also valuable for other regions to promote green, high-quality and sustainable agricultural development.
7 pages, In Ethiopia, economic development policy has historically been dominated by subsistence agriculture, leading to unrealized agricultural potential characterized by low productivity and a focus on subsistence farming practices. This would necessitate giving agricultural policies top priority and launching an improved initiative to speed up the transition from traditional farming. To this end, this review was to summarize the strengths and drawbacks of Ethiopia's agricultural policies and strategies, as well as make recommendations for improved interventions and the potential for scaling them up. This may be very helpful in directing policymakers to introduce the valuable interventions and handle related issues. Since 1991, the government of Ethiopia has implemented various agricultural policies in order to boost agricultural productivity and production, which in turn reduces poverty and food insecurity. However, the results have been found to be unsatisfactory. This is mainly due to the poor performance of the agricultural extension system in terms of its coverage and quality of implementation. Thus, the review argues, addressing such challenges and commercializing the sector could lead Ethiopia to further exploit its agricultural potential. In this regard, the recently implemented cluster farming is the right way to overcome these problems and support subsistence farming by increasing smallholder farmers bargaining power, increasing the faster diffusion of research recommendations and extension packages, knowledge transfer, and market linkage. Therefore, the review recommends that policymakers and development organizations should consider cluster farming as a main farming strategy to increase smallholder farmer’s productivity and support initiatives to attain the intended goals.
18 pages, Digital agriculture has been developing rapidly over the past decade. However, studies have shown that the need for more ability to use these tools and the shortage of knowledge contribute to current farmer unease about digital technology. In response, this study investigated the influence of communication channels—mass media, social media, and interpersonal meetings—on farmers’ adoption, decision-making, and benefits obtained using technologies. The research uses data from 461 farmers in Brazil and 340 farmers in the United States, leaders in soybean production worldwide. The results show differences and similarities between these countries. LinkedIn has the highest positive association in Brazil between the communication channels and the digital agriculture technologies analyzed. In the United States, YouTube has the highest positive correlation. The overall influence of social media among Brazilian farmers is higher than among American farmers. The perceived benefits of using digital tools are more strongly associated with mass media communication in the United States than in Brazil. Regarding farm management decision-making, the study showed a higher relevance of interpersonal meetings in Brazil than in the United States. Findings can aid farmers, managers, academics and government decision makers to use communication channels more effectively in evaluating and adopting digital technologies.
12 pages, This study evaluated socioeconomic factors influencing the uptake of regenerative agriculture technologies in the dry lands of Embu County. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 400 farm households. Multivariate Probit model (MVP) and percentage were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study indicate that several socioeconomic factors including farming experience, farm size, main occupation, off-farm activities, age, gender, marital status and education level influenced the uptake of various regenerative agriculture technologies. Government and other inventors should take these factors into consideration while making decisions and formulating policies to support the dissemination and uptake of agricultural innovations.
14 pages, This study explored impact of agricultural extension services on cereal production. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire from a random sample of 262 farmers from four regions (east, west, north, and south) in Bhutan. Farmers assessed the impact of extension services on five aspects of cereal production (cereal seed, social, environmental, production, and marketing aspects). Percentages and an ordered logistic model were used to analyze the data. The study found a low level of farmers’ participation in extension services. The social aspect of cereal production was the most impacted by the extension programmes, while the marketing aspect was the least impacted. The farmers’ cultivated dry land (Coeff. = 0.21) and wetland (Coeff. = 0.72), their participation in extension services (Coeff. = 0.61), and the extra labour (Coeff. = 0.24) significantly contributed to cereal production. The provision of effective and high-quality extension programs by extension agents is critical for smallholder farmers to enhance their agricultural production.
5pgs, At a central Illinois feed mill, electricity from its rural electric co-op was exceeding grain costs as its biggest operating expense. With a new 3-megawatt solar array, the facility expects to reduce energy costs by about 50%.
6 pages, Background: The subject of the study in the present work was the correlation of the development of the agricultural sector with the operation of agricultural cooperatives. Considering the importance of the agricultural sector with its big and small problems, the role of agricultural cooperatives in the development of this sector is identified. As it was found from the Greek literature, the agricultural cooperatives in Greece, offered technical and material assistance to the Greek farmers, helped in the economic recovery of the local communities, helped significantly in the operation of the agricultural products market, undertook activities of utilization of agricultural production and in many cases also competed with private companies.
Methods: The model chosen for the analysis is the input-output analysis method which measures the economic impact that companies have on their local economies. In this case it concerns the change of production from the various companies belonging to the cooperatives to a financial contribution to the whole economy.
Result: The results of the theoretical and empirical analysis clearly showed that the cooperative organizations in Greece, despite the chronic problems they face, contribute positively and satisfactorily to the entire economy of the country. This contribution is made not only by the services they offer to their members but also through the financial activities they undertake with their cooperative enterprises.
15 pages, The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of extension services on capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers in Midvaal Local Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A simple random sample technique was used to select the participants, so that individual farmers in the study population could have an equal chance of being selected in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 148 smallholder livestock farmers. The data gathered from participants was coded and captured in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, mean, percentages, standard deviation, ranking order, and inferential statistics such as binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results showed that technical farm visits (M = 3.3, SD = ±1.36) and informal training (M = 3.2, SD = ±1.31) were effective extension methods. Furthermore, they showed that extension services were less effective at enabling farmers to penetrate formal markets (M = 2,0 SD = ±1.06) and access finance (M = 1.9, SD = ±1.01). The binary logistic regression model revealed that gender and farming status were the main variables that significantly (P<0.05) influenced smallholder livestock farmers’ access to extension services. It was concluded that extension services in the study area were playing a major role in the capacity building of smallholder livestock farmers.
9 pages, Despite agriculture’s great potential to Tanzania agricultural development, the sector faces diverse challenges. For example, existence of gender gaps in accessing agricultural production resources and benefits obtained from the same impede the sector’s growth. Therefore, adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) has been seen as one of the measures to address the sector limited productivity. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge on how CA has managed to reduce gender inequalities in accessing both reproductive resources and benefits accrued from agriculture. This paper examines gender gaps in conservation agriculture programme implemented by Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania (SAT), by specifically analyzing gender participation and relations in CA in Morogoro municipality and Morogoro district. This study adopted a mixed method approach whereby both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from four sites where SAT implements its activities. Findings show that CA has significantly reduced gander gaps in accessing production resources and services as well as raising women’s participation in decision making with regards to production and use of income obtained from sales of produce. Farmers regardless of the gender can access extension services, and credit, and are involved in various initiatives collectively. Despite the economic benefits, findings show that CA is laborious and takes much of farmers’ time, women being more affected. Therefore, it is recommended that the central and local governments and various stakeholders should promote the spread of conservation agriculture technologies since it reduces the biasness in agriculture and empowering women. Ensuring access to advanced cheap technologies to farmers. Nonetheless, there is need to ensure that female farmers are not overburdened in the process.
8 pages, Agricultural extension is now backing on the development agenda. The acknowledged failure of the traditional extension model in India has stimulated debate on extension reforms and the introduction of new extension models. Further, Indian agriculture has recorded an alarming ‘knowledge gap’ where ‘knowledge’ became central to agricultural production. The role of extension functionaries today is more challenging and demands structural and functional changes to meet the holistic needs of farmers and they have to equip themselves to cope with the drastic chance and dire needs. Agricultural extension is not only about imparting knowledge and securing adoption of improved practices but it also aims at changing the outlook of farmers. Moreover, Indian agriculture is undergoing a rapid transformation under globalization from a simple making a living to complex endeavour. Information revolution leads to fundamental changes in economic, political, social and cultural relations. Information technology is the lifeblood of many other technologies. It is opined that there is direct relationship between communication and development of agricultural sector. New information technology provides the opportunity for innovation. The ‘free flow of information’ will help the farmers is to overcome the knowledge gap and the availability of the new technology lead farmers to make real choice. This paper emphasizes on the role of ICTs in contemporary agricultural context and critically understands the failure of traditional extension functionaries.
