The national ecolabel of tourist accommodation establishments and rural tourism enterprises of Latvia – the ‘Green Certificate’ (hereinafter the ‘Green Certificate’) celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. Its creation in 1999 was initiated by the Latvian Rural Tourism Association ‘Baltic Country Holidays’, and it is currently one of the oldest European ecolabels still in operation. One of the most significant tourism and rural tourism resources in Latvia is the natural and cultural heritage, which is the basis for the development of rural tourism products. In this process, ecosystem services used in tourism products play a major role. One of the goals of the ‘Green Certificate’ is environment, nature and local society friendly and sustainable farming, which means both a careful use of natural resources and their inclusion in the tourism product development process. The aim of this study was to find out which ecosystem services were used and the ways they were used by rural tourism companies to create the nature protection, social and economic added value. According to the respondents, 1/3 of the revenue of the ‘Green Certificate’ companies is generated by the use of the ecosystem services. It is an argument for further research on the possibilities of the ecosystem services to be used more effectively in future in developing new rural tourism products.

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.

Three treatments were tested with four replications at RCBD, namely cassava monoculture, corn twice under cassava intercropping, and corn with corn monoculture where the second corn was planted 5 days after harvested. Planting distance of cassava in monoculture was 100x100 cm, and in intercropping was 200x50 cm, by which corn was planted in 50x30 cm, 1 seed per hole. All plots received dairy cattle manure 5 t haE-1. Fertilizer applied for cassava was Urea 100 kg haE-1, Ponska 200 kg haE-1 and KCl 100 kg haE-1 split into two applications two weeks after cassava planting, then when first of corn was harvested. Corn fertilization was Ponska 150 kg haE-1 + Urea 100 kg haE-1 every 3 months and split into two applications: 1 week and 4 weeks after corn was planted. Cassava and twice corn fertilization was Urea 300 kg haE-1 + Phonska 400 kg haE-1 + KCl 100 kg haE-1. Results showed that cassava monoculture can be improved by inserting of twice corn in between rows. Under sole cropping cassava, the B/C ratio was the highest 1.61, however with incorporating twice of corn the B/C ratio was 1.58. Intercropping cassava and twice of corn resulted in the Land Equivalent Ratio 2.146. By intercropping cassava with corn twice at the end of dry season, there was an opportunity to find corn biomass for dairy cattle. Under intercropping, cassava was able to produce 21.5 t haE-1 of fresh roots, while first and second of corn produced fresh biomass of 34 t haE-1 and 28 t haE-1 respectively.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the performance of agricultural sectors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries using selected criteria, to identify the deficiencies in agricultural policies, to explore competitive advantages and to guide food and nutrition policies. The analyses of this research use the secondary of time series data between the years 1967‒ 2016 from 10 countries including; Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam which are the member of ASEAN. This research uses the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and the data used for the mentioned countries include the following criteria; total agricultural production value of the land, self-sufficiency of animal products criteria, self-sufficiency of crop products criteria, rural population rate, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, and value of foreign trade in agricultural products. The result of proximity coefficients calculated with the TOPSIS method, which according to the number of proximity and maximum benefit analysis should be done according to the order of preference. It is stated that Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia were the most successful countries in the agricultural policy performance in 1967. As for last decades, Malaysia became the most successful country in agricultural policy performance. We can infer from the results that Malay industrial sector triggered the agricultural sector by supplying financial investment atmosphere.

Social enterprises have positive effect on sustainable development, and they have become an important instrument for solving social problems (especially in rural areas), as the national and local governments alone cannot solve all such problems. To foster the development of social entrepreneurship, Latvia has introduced several support instruments for social enterprises, which include tax relief, privileged procurement contracts, grants, as well as non-monetary kinds of support. However, social entrepreneurs often point out that support from the national and local governments is insufficient, while the support instruments stipulated in the Social Enterprise Law are not widely used. Therefore, the aim of the research is to analyse national and local government support instruments for social enterprises in Latvia. The research found that the most important financial instrument fostering the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia is a grant scheme administered by the Ministry of Welfare and the JSC Development Finance Institution Altum, which is available in the range of EUR 5000 to 200 000 for investment and working capital. In the period 2017‒2020, 94 social entrepreneurship projects with a total budget of EUR 6 million were supported, which could be viewed as significant financial support. In contrast, immovable property tax relief, exemption from enterprise income tax (on profits) and relief from this tax for several categories of non-business expenses are considered by social entrepreneurs to be an insignificant kind of support. There is also lack of experience and practice regarding the inclusion of social criteria in public procurement in Latvia.

There is a strong correlation between diet and mental health, and malnutrition can contribute to the development of various psycho-neurological diseases. Fatty acid profile plays an important role in the treatment of psycho-neurological diseases; therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate fatty acid profile in the diet of patients in three Latvian psycho-neurological hospitals. Latvian psycho-neurological hospitals submitted a detailed one-week menu. The information in the menus was processed using the Fineli program. Each menu identified the composition of fatty acids. The average fat concentration in different hospital menus ranged from 74.8 g to 96.1 g per day, where the concentration of saturated fatty acids ranged from 37.5 g to 47.7 g per day and the unsaturated fat concentration ranged from 35.9 g to 47 g per day. The n-3 PUFA content was consistent with the recommendations of a healthy individual, but it did not meet the needs of patients in a psycho-neurological hospital. The total eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid concentration in the hospital menus ranged from 0.03 to 0.13 g, which was significantly lower than recommended, whereas LA and ALA concentration in hospital menus is close to optimal. The trans-fatty acids concentration in hospital menus did not exceed 2.5 g per day, with the exception of one day in hospital No. 2. The impact of diet on the treatment of psycho-neurological diseases in Latvian psycho-neurological hospitals has not been sufficiently assessed.

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.

The change in the concept of urban agriculture has been driven by social, political and economic factors, changing the role of agriculture in the urban environment. From the second half of 20th century topicality and practices of urban agriculture are growing widely not only in social initiatives but also in scientific research (the number of articles in scientific databases has increased 18−30 times since 2000). Growing interest has identified various variations and tendencies in the interpretation of the concept of urban agriculture, having regard to the current United Nations definition that is broad, but in research works and case studies researchers adapt the definitions to the local characteristics and aim of the study, thus creating a number of risks in the interpretation of the concept, including limited possibilities for quantitative comparisons between studies. The aim of the article is to identify the historical development stages of the concept of urban agriculture and to determine the main research tendencies in its application. To achieve this aim, the method of monographic and descriptive analysis was used for theoretical discussion, analysis, synthesis and deduction − for information gathering, logical systematization and classification. As a result of the study, it was identified that the concept of urban agriculture is developed in three different stages − originally associated with the technical solutions of urban planning for providing food for city dwellers, it is currently developing in tendencies of different directions: analysis of agriculture’s role in urban areas (including mitigating climate change risks), classification of types of urban agriculture, opportunities for adapting innovations and technological solutions to urban agriculture, the place and context of urban agriculture for sustainable development in the circumstances of urbanization. Such in-depth research of the experience and impact of urban agriculture on sustainable development could increase dynamically due to environmental considerations, aspect of the circular economy, and new paradigms in planning urban and peri-urban areas.

Feeding young animals is a very important stage during their growing-up period, but in order to provide them with essential nutrients, they are fed with liquid feeds, whole milk substitute in particular (WMS). The technique for reconstituting WMS consists of dissolving it in water followed by mixing, but it is significant to follow the cooking recipe strictly, so it is necessary to develop a system with a feeding (dosing) device that will make it possible to solve this problem. Theoretical and experimental studies of the feeding device have been conducted in order to optimize the technological process of mixing liquid feed. Theoretically, the quality of determining the mixture during dosing was established for the purpose of further research. The influence of the design and technological parameters of the feeding device was experimentally studied, and its efficiency was evaluated. It was found that as the inclination angle α increases from 67,50 to 700, the rotation speed n being from 850 to 1500 minE−1, the maximum probability of staying in the tolerance field ΔP=96% is reached, and feed discharge Q ranges from 540 to 660 kg hE−1. The research makes it possible to develop a feeding device at the design stage, meeting the requirements of the recipe, having high discharge rates and the lowest energy consumption.

In the market of the Latvia different wood surface coating materials suitable for use in outdoor conditions are offered, but available information on the efficiency of these against direct water exposure is insufficient. For structural timber building elements, such as glued laminated timber (GLT), the surface coating should be applied taking into account technological, visual or colour changes (ISO 7724:1984) and – last, but not least – economic aspects are considered. Wood surfaces coated with coating materials, such as varnishes, paints, etc. can stabilize some properties such as movement of moisture content, dimensional changes and attack by microorganisms and fungi. The changes in the moisture content of timber may influence such important parameters as mechanical properties and the total life time of the structural timber elements. A study has been conducted with the aim of assessing the efficiency of coating materials used for wood protection against water absorption. In this study, six different commercial coating products used for the treatment of spruce (Picea Abies L. Karst.) and pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.) samples were tested. The efficiency of different coating substances was assessed using two modified test methods according to the standards EN 382-2 (1994) and EN 927-5 (2006), determining the surface water absorption after immersion in water for 24 h and the dynamics of water absorption of the glued laminated timber for 696 h kept in water. As a result of the study, it has been ascertained that organic solvent-based commercial coating products are more efficient against short-term and long-term wood water absorption compared to oil-based coating materials.