Climate change is an inevitable global challenge of the 21st century. For developing countries like Ethiopia, it intensifies existing challenges towards ensuring sustainable development. Adopting the protection motivation theory, this study examined factors affecting the practice of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies among farmers. The study employed a mixed research approach to assess the subjective understanding of farmers about climate change threats and identify factors determining their responses to climate change effects. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussions and interviews. Quantitative information was gathered using semi-structured survey from 296 randomly selected farmers. Qualitative data was dominantly analysed using content analysis, while descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyse quantitative data. Almost all respondents (97%) perceived that climate change was occurring and threatening their wellbeing. Dwindling precipitation, increasing temperature and occurrence of human and animal disease were perceived to represent climate change effects. From nationally initiated strategies, farmers were found to largely practice soil and water conservation, which they perceived as less costly and compatible to local knowledge. The result of binary logistic regression revealed that perceived severity of climate change, perceived susceptibility to climate change threat, perceived own ability to respond, response efficacy, and cost of practices predicted farmers’ motivation to practice climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Thus, building a resilient system should go beyond sensitizing climate response mechanisms. Policies should focus on human capital development and economic empowerment which would enable farmers to pursue context-specific adaptation and mitigation strategies, thereby maintaining a sustainable livelihood.

Although poor use of contraceptives and high desire for children is characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa, this demographic challenge is more peculiar to more disadvantaged segments of the population like rural farmers. This study was designed to examine current use of modern family planning and fertility intention among women farmers of reproductive age in Ido and Ona-ara Local Government Areas of Ibadan, Nigeria. Using cross-sectional survey design, semi-structured questionnaire were administered via structured-interview to randomly and systematically selected 408 respondents. Chi-square was used to show significance of associations between pairs of variables. Contingency co-efficient was used to examine extent of significant associations. Results indicate that majority of respondents (77%) desired additional children, the mean number of children that respondents already have is 2.94±1.35 while mean fertility intention is 1.85±1.44. The proportion of current users of modern family planning is 45.6%. The use of oral pills (30.6%) is most popular among respondents. There is no significant association between current use of modern family planning and fertility intention among married and divorced respondents, among respondents in all the age sub-groups, and among respondents with no formal education or secondary education (p is greater than 0.05), but there is among respondents with primary and tertiary education (p is less than 0.05). The synergy between the use of modern family planning and fertility intention among women farmers in the study area is notable but requires significant progression. Having primary education and tertiary education is significantly associated respectively with lower and higher use of modern family planning in relation to fertility intention. Education is an important element of fertility dynamics among women farmers in the study area.

In sub-Saharan Africa intensifying small-scale farming is essential in addressing poverty related issues in rural communities and the degradation of natural resources. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) are the best practices used to improve the productivity of crops whilst maximizing agronomic efficiency of inputs applied and hence contributing to sustainable intensification. ISFM usually include the appropriate use of inorganic fertilizer and organic resources, good agronomic practices and appropriate use of germplasm. The survey was carried-out on the awareness of Integrated Soil Fertility Management practices in the Savelugu Municipal of Northern Ghana to study the awareness of integrated soil fertility management practices amongst farmers through the administration of questionnaires. A multistage method of sampling was used in selecting thirty (30) respondents randomly from five (5) selected communities namely Jana, Yapalsi, Diari, Nabogu and Gushie to make up a total sample size of 150 respondents. Frequency distribution and percentages were used to represent the data. Correlation analysis was used to test for the relationship between awareness, educational level and household size. The survey showed that majority of the respondents at ages between 21 and 30 years were married and majority with household size of 3 to 5 as well as primary and secondary education. Farming activities were carried-out by hand (80%). Majority of the respondents (43.3%) were informed about ISFM through demonstrations and 20% of the farmers apply inorganic fertilizer. About 85.5% of the respondents were aware of ISFM. The research also revealed that ISFM improves production and supports finances of respondents. The assessment of respondents’ perception of ISFM revealed a positive agreement of the effect of ISFM on soil health as well as improved production. In conclusion, it is thus suggested that it is needful for the involvement of the government on the adoption of ISFM via Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) locally and or internationally for a suitable advancement and to guarantee a sustainable environment with a world-wide corporation for improvement.

The research paper presents the results of research on the situation and trends in the age structure of farm owners or managers in Latvia. The growing world population and the challenges caused by climate change make farmers reconsider their traditional farming practices. Therefore, scientists believe that the aging of farmers is a major obstacle to the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas, as evidenced by the age structure of European Union (EU) farmers and other agricultural workers. Generation renewal is crucial for sustainable land management and food production. In 2018, according to statistical data, the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in total gross value added in Latvia was only 3.8%. However, these sectors were the main job creators and drivers of economic development in rural areas. Therefore, the aim of the present research is to assess trends in the age structure of farm managers and owners and the policy instruments applied in Latvia. The results of the research show that despite the policy instruments implemented in Latvia after its accession to the EU to support young farmers and promote early retirement of farm owners, the aging process of farm owners and managers occurs relatively fast. The median age of farm owners and managers in Latvia has increased from 53 years in 2009 to 57 years in 2019, which could hinder the development of the agricultural industry and prevent the new challenge of growing global food demand and the negative impacts of climate change from being tackled.

Poultry production decision setting is full of risk and imperfect information. Attitude towards risk is a measure of farmers’ willingness to take risks which is an important determinant in their production decisions. Strong social capital emanating from social networks can lead to efficient risk management strategies, thereby minimizing risks faced by the farmers. Therefore, the effects of social capital on the risk attitude of small-scale commercial poultry farmers in Oyo state were assessed. Data were collected from two hundred small-scale farmers and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, factorial analysis, multinomial logit and a two-stage least square. Results showed that 52.5%, 37.5% and 10% of the poultry farmers were risk averse, risk neutral and risk preferring, respectively. About 31.4% and 68.6% of the female and male farmers respectively were risk averse. Close to a fifth, a quarter and two-thirds of the risk averse, risk neutral and risk takers respectively contributed 21-30% of the decisions in the associations. Fourteen percent of the farmers belonged to homogeneous groups. The choice of being risk averse was affected by marital status, educational level, family size, percentage spent on poultry income and aggregate social capital. There was no reverse causality between risk attitude and social capital.

The article deals with the problem of local mobility of peasants in Vilnius Governorate in the nineteenth century. To solve the problem, statistical-demographical data from the “Memory Books” permanently issued by the Tsarist Russian government was used. Pure demographic data brings little information, unless it is properly mathematically processed. Such processing leads to the discovering of new proportions concerning inhabitants, villages and farmsteads. Such proportions are related to the administrative territorial unit under investigation and show how many people reside in a farmstead and how many farmsteads are comprised in a village. In the course of time, numbers of villages and farmsteads change, and these numbers show the numbers of people taking part in local mobility of inhabitants. The higher are changes in villages and farmsteads, the higher is mobility of inhabitants.

Climate risks constitute an enormous challenge to poultry production and have affected the livelihoods of the people who depend on them. Thus, farmers have adopted various strategies that can help them cope with the adverse effects of climate change. The aim of this study is to examine the factors influencing small scale poultry farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change. Data used for this study were obtained from 121 representative farmers selected through a two-stage random sampling procedure. Descriptive Statistics, Likert Scale and the Multinomial Logit Model were the tools used for analysis. Results showed that the mean age and household size of the respondents were 45 years and 5 persons respectively, while the average number of birds per farmer stood at 583 birds. Majority of the respondents had a moderate perception of the impacts of climate change on poultry farming and chose management adaptation strategies in their fight against climate change. Econometric analysis showed that the age, gender and educational status of farmers, number of birds, household size, poultry experience, access to cooperative societies, poultry housing system, access to credit, access to extension services and farm size were the factors influencing farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies in the study area. Therefore, policy should focus on awareness creation on management adaptation strategies through enhancing education and extension services as well as access of poultry farmers to credit facilities to indirectly insure farmers against climate change impacts.

This study examined the livelihood strategies and food security situation of rural households around Derba Cement Factory by taking a randomly selected sample of 215 heads of farm households from three rural kebeles. A mixed research approach was employed to triangulate concurrently collected data through household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Informed by the sustainable rural livelihood framework, descriptive statistics were used to describe rural households’ livelihood strategies and challenges they faced while inferential statistics was employed to explain households’ food security situations with different livelihood combinations. While mixed farming was found to be the mainstay of the household economy, small-scale irrigation and extracting forest products were also used as supplementary economic activities. More than a half of the respondents (52.5%) reported at least one non-farm activity. Land shortage was identified as a major constraint to expand crop production and this was further aggravated by the activities (e.g. querying leading to displacement) of the Derba Cement Factory. This further affected household labour allocation and natural resources utilization. The result of household food (in) security access scale indicated that 59% of the respondents have experienced food access insecurity in 2016. However, respondents who combined agriculture and non-farm activities appeared relatively more food secure than those engaged in agriculture alone or in non-farm activity only. Overall, households with multiple livelihood strategies had diverse food entitlements to maintain sustainable food consumption. Yet, necessity induced diversification was found to affect food access security of households. This calls for inclusive policies and strategies that integrate rural non-farm activities to subsistence farming in order to assure sustainable livelihood in rural communities.

Rural households are displaced from their lands without any plan in place to resettle or compensate them, for a promise of improvement in their living standards. This has not only resulted in a decline in the living standard of the rural populace, in terms of loss of land and livelihoods, the poor are also further marginalized and impoverished. This study examines the welfare implication of domestic land grabs among rural households in Delta State, Nigeria, employing primary data obtained from one hundred and seventy-three representative farming households. Descriptive analysis revealed that majority were low-income earners and engaged in farming as their major occupation. Econometric analysis revealed land size, secondary education, community leaders’ influence, compensation and the use to which the grabbed land was put into as some of the significant factors influencing domestic land grabs in the study area. Further, the size of land grabbed, no compensation for the use of land and low farm output were found to have negative effects on the welfare of the farmers. Thus, the need to intensify efforts to ensure that the rural populace is not being unreasonably dispossessed of its lands, becomes imperative. The need for commensurate compensation of rural households whose lands were grabbed and periodical checks on community leaders who positively influence domestic land acquisitions arbitrarily also becomes pertinent for improvement in the welfare of the farmers. This is especially so, if these small-scale farmers are to be significant drivers of global food security.