Research And Education For The Development Of Integrated Crop Livestock Fish Farming Systems In The Tropics

Integrated farming in Asia is either considered an eco-friendly good that should be preserved for environmental reasons or a poor practice that will soon be superseded by industrial aquaculture. This report finds that most livestock-fish integration is sound business conducted by entrepreneurs accessing urban markets where the price of fish is relatively low. It can be used as part of a strategy to reduce environmental impacts of intensive livestock production and to produce low-cost food. Farmers have proved adept at both developing their systems to meet their own needs and diversifying the role of ponds, fish and livestock within their complex livelihoods.

This book provides a detailed history of farming systems research (FSR). While it includes the application of FSR to developed country agriculture, its main focus is on FSR in its original role, with small scale, resource-poor farmers in less developed countries. There are some 40 contributions from nearly 50 contributors from 20 countries, illustrating both the diversity and yet the coherence of FSR. The five parts of the book cover: (1) FSR - understanding farmers and their farming (FSR origins and perspectives; understanding farming systems); (2) the applications of farming systems research (FSR in technology choice and development; FSR in extension and policy formulation); (3) institutional commitment to FSR (FSR: some institutional experiences in national agricultural research; dimensions of the organization of FSR; training for FSR); (4) FSR: the professional dimension (regional and international associations; FSR and the professional disciplines); and (5) cutting edge methods, abiding issues and the future for FSR.

In this volume, an international group of contributors explores the newly emerging aquaculture industry. Focusing on the social and environmental dimensions of aquacultural development in both industrialized and nonindustrialized nations, they examine issues of social equity, user-group conflict, environmental impacts of production, and the mediating role of the state. They also discuss aquaculture's role in development activity-especially in sustainable development, where it can enhance community viability, coherence, and solidarity. Asserting the need for careful planning and recognizing impending political and moral choices, the contributors assess the decisionmaking process for public authorities and development agencies and consider the social consequences of these decisions. Policymakers responsible for promoting and managing this growing industry will find this volume invaluable as they begin to research and design appropriate institutional structures. In addition, scholars interested in the overall adoption and diffusion of new technologies will find here a rich source of information about a system that shares attributes with but also differs significantly from agricultural and fisheries production systems.

Biological and physiological systems: animal sciences. Plant-animal interactions in northern temperate sown grasslands and semi-natural vegetation. Exploitation of the systems approach in technical design of agricultural enterprises. Application of systems theory to farm planning and control: modelling resource allocation. Optimising the mixture of enterprises in a farming system. Farming systems research-extension. Food policy and food security planning: institutional approaches to modelling grain markets and food security in Sub-Saharn Africa. A systems view of commercial supply and marketing links. Agroecosystems. Understanding and managing changes in agriculture. Agricultural sector modelling for policy development. Of agricultural systems and systems agriculture: systems methodologies in agricultural education. Extension education: Top(s) Down, Bottom(s) Up and Other Things.