Rainwater harvesting, solar water heating and organic vegetable production were used to improve efficiency in a suburban home in George, in South Africa's Southern Cape. In a year, treated municipal water consumption decreased from 17 kL/month to 8 kL/month, and 60 kL of rainwater was used for...

This chapter provides information on the importance, growing areas, plant development, cropping system, postharvest and product valorization of arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza). Arracacha is an excellent alternative for small and medium producers, especially family farmers, due to its...

This chapter deals with citrus plant husbandry, including field and nursery practices, starting from site and seed selection, planting and seedling preparation, and propagation, to irrigation, fertilizer application, freeze protection, pruning, growth regulator use and weed control. Citrus nursery...

This chapter considers in detail the question of whether transgenic food production affects world food prices. Sections examine: the long-term trends in international prices; the effects of increased Asian demand on food prices; the relationship between US ethanol production and maize prices; the...

This chapter examines the impact of organic as well as a double (organic and Fair Trade) certification on material input costs, using data collected in 2012 from smallholder black pepper farmers in India. An important outcome is that, contrary to conventional expectations, organic and double...

This chapter discusses the future of legumes (including grain and feed legumes) in cropping systems, which depends on a combination of six developments. The first is that the technical performance of legume crops needs to improve compared with competing crops. In practical terms, this means that...

In order to apply crop inputs on an as need basis, map and sensor-based precision agriculture (PA) technologies could be implemented in lime (Rutaceae) production for effective management of inputs to improve crop productivity. PA has several components, i.e. a differential global positioning...

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of sweetpotato and its composite meal-based diets on the biological performance and bio-economics of weaner rabbit production. Thirty weaner rabbits averaging 0.35 kg each were randomly allotted to five treatment groups in a completely randomized...

The current market and economic challenges faced by pork producers are unprecedented and therefore there is a constant need to determine the economically optimal nutrition and management solutions. Simulation models can be used to fulfill this need provided they have the capacity to integrate...

This chapter (1) assesses the socio-economic status and existing agriculture systems of Nepalese tribal farmers; (2) estimates and compares the crop yields, cost of production, labour requirements, and profitability of conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for these farmers; and (3)...