Month: August 2022

They added that flock sizes were determined by resource availability, which caused annual variability, as competition for land resources for grazing in the region was increasing.Goat rearing was a largely seasonal activity, and it was more predominant in the summer or taken up based on the income needs of individual HHs.Herd sizes ranged from 10 to 55 goats per household, depending on whether goat rearing was a primary or supplementary source of income.Focus-group participants stated that goats were grazed mainly on lands with tree and shrub cover.Large goat flocks would require large tracts of grazing land.The scarcity of such land has therefore reduced goat keeping.Sheep-rearing HHs rarely depended on off-farm labor, whereas those rearing goats frequently depended on off-farm labor or agricultural wage work.HHs also depended on markets or the public food distribution system to meet their food needs, although dependence was greater for goat-rearing HHs.The least prevalent category was the CWDL system.Most HHs in this category were medium farmers , followed by small and marginal farmers.Only 4% were large farmers.Crop production in this system veered towards food crops, using seasonally available water resources, and limited external inputs.In this case, livestock keeping was integrated and intended to support crop production.According to the participants in the focus groups, this had been the most prevalent system in the 1990s.Diverse livestock species were reared in this system.Crop and livestock products were consumed predominantly at home, and only surplus production, if available, was sold.The primary source of income for these HHs consisted of remittances from family members working in cities.Land and herd sizes are presented in Table 2.Land and herd sizes differed across systems.HHs in the CSR system had the highest herd size in comparison to all systems.The CD, CSR, and CWDL systems had comparable land sizes.

The LWL system was not comparable to any system in both land and herd sizes.In this section, we present the results of the economic-performance study of only the CWL, CD, and CSR systems ,ebb flow table as they provided consistent income from agriculture.The revenue, costs of production, and total GM per household are displayed in Table 3 for all three systems under study.For HHs in the CD and CSR systems, GM comprised income from crop and livestock production.For those in the CWL system, it consisted of crop production and off-farm activities.The economic performance of crop production is explained by the various crop management and input requirements across systems.As indicated in the focus-group discussions, the CWL and CD systems limited crop production to the monsoon agricultural season each year, while the CSR system managed crop production for both monsoon and winter seasons each year.In terms of inputs, the CWL system incurred the highest crop production costs, followed by the CSR system and then the CD system.The differences were due to the types of crops grown, with cash crops having higher costs, associated inputs, and the availability of livestock manure, which replaced expenses for inorganic inputs.Detailed information about the production costs for livestock rearing is presented in Table 4.The costs for dairy farming were substantially higher than those for small ruminants.The CD system also exhibited the greatest variation in the GM.Some of the HHs in this system had negative GMs in the summer due to low milk production combined with high feed requirements by the cattle.The CSR system was the most profitable farming system, due to low feed costs and high market price for meat.The highest costs per annum in the CSR system were for animal health care and for leasing grazing lands.These factors nevertheless did not seem to impair economic performance.The CSR system managed to obtain a high GM in the summer, the most unproductive season in dryland regions due to high temperatures and water shortages.Another factor addressed in the survey was loan access and repayment.The findings revealed that HHs took loans from multiple sources to continue farming.Among the three systems, CD HHs had the most loans from cooperative banks , local pawnbrokers , and selfhelp groups simultaneously.The loan values were also higher in comparison to those of HHs in the other two systems.In the CWL system, HHs accessed government crop loans , self-help group loans , and government schemes to manage crop production.In contrast, only 50% of CSR HHs took loans, and only from cooperative banks.

Focus group discussions indicated that loans from self-help groups were entirely availed by women, however, loans from banks were from both genders, as women also had access to banks.Despite formal credit sources, informal credit sources are still being accessed particularly by the CD HHs.This situation can be related to the high investment and production costs in dairying farming, where formal credit options work due to pending loan repayment.The GM of the HHs in the CSR system was statistically higher than that of those obtained by HHs in the CD and CWL systems.There were no statistical differences between the CD and CSR groups.The linear regression analysis revealed that factors explaining the GM were dependent on the farming system.First, caste and family type were not significant in any of the farming systems.For the CWL system, land size was the only statistically significant variable clarifying the GM.For the CSR system, both herd size and land size were significantly and positively correlated with GM.For the CD system, however, none of these variables was statistically significant.In Fig.2 below, we further illustrate the relationship between herd size and GM, which helps to explain why herd size is an explanatory variable for the CSR system, but not for the CD system.For the CSR system, GM increased along with herd size, as indicated by the significant regression line.In contrast, the CD system exhibited high variation, as CD farms with low herd size obtained both negative and positive GMs, while those with large herd sizes obtained only moderate to low GMs.The CWL system had the lowest gains and no livestock.The characterization of farming systems in the study region revealed that the CWL, CD, and CSR systems were variants of intensive, specialized, and market-oriented farming systems, while the LWL and CWDL were variants of subsistence farming systems.The majority of the HHs in the region fell into two farm categories: CWL and CD.The CSR system, although lucrative, was dominated by the BC communities in the region, given that sheep rearing has been their traditional occupation for generations.

For LWL and CWDL systems, livestock rearing was a need-based livelihood activity, and it usually involved poultry and seasonal goat rearing.Although the CWDL system was the most prevalent in the past, the majority of HHs have now transitioned away from this system.Further analysis of the three systems revealed that the CWL system is a medium-input/low-output system, the CD system is a high-input/highoutput system, and the CSR system is a medium-input/medium-output system.In terms of economic performance, the CSR system showed the best performance, as explained by the low water requirements and low feed production costs.The profitability of this system was further enhanced by growing market demand and the current market price for small ruminant meat.The system also adapted to the dynamic context by adjusting herd sizes to the decreasing availability of common property resources.All these factors make the CSR system suited to the dryland context.Despite having the highest revenues, the CD system was less profitable, due to high production costs.This system exhibited high variability in GMs from moderate to substantially negative records across HHs.This variability might have been due to the influence of other factors not included in this study.In addition, the consistent income obtained from dairy farming came at the expense of crop production in the winter season, as scarce water resources were diverted for dairying.This strategy resulted in the loss of additional income for CD HHs, in contrast to those in the CSR system, which cultivated crops for two seasons each year, in addition to rearing small ruminants.These findings thus suggest that engaging in dairy production may not be a resilient option for HHs in semi-arid regions.The CWL system consistently exhibited low economic performance, with low revenues attributable primarily to higher production costs for cash crops and market volatility.In line with other studies such as, Sallu et al.; Ten Napel et al.; Ayeb-Karlsson et al.; Kuchimanchi et al.we find that the trend of intensification and specialization in farming, particularly in the CWL and CD systems, has increased generic risks and decreased flexibility for coping with disturbances and shocks.For example, the CWL system reflected the absence of crop diversity and livestock and was dependent on off-farm employment, which was not regularly available.

The lack of crop livestock integration at the farm level increases dependence on inorganic fertilizers , which reduces soil carbon levels, subsequently affecting soil fertility, crop productivity, and revenue in the long term.These factors make HHs in this system more reliant on external inputs and market conditions to continue farming, leading to higher risks in the long term.The CD system was the most desired by HHs in the region, as it provided consistent income throughout the year.However, this system had compromised GMs and can be seen as entailing high risk,hydroponic grow table as dairy farming is heavily dependent on external markets for feed resources, scarce water resources and milk collection.Small landholdings limit feed production and increase the amount of external feed that HHs are forced to purchase to guarantee production.Further, as reported in studies by Sishodia et al.and the Central Ground Water Board , the region is currently experiencing high water scarcity, and the situation is likely to worsen.In addition to being risky, therefore, the CD system may be economically unviable in dryland regions , contrary to general perceptions.For this reason, the promotion of dairy farming among poor HHs should be a point of concern for development programs, especially in dryland regions.In the farming systems examined, higher revenues were associated with higher costs due to increased use of purchased inputs, credit, and animal healthcare services.If these costs cannot be limited, they offset revenues, hinder profits, and perpetuate the ‘poverty trap’.In this study, this situation is illustrated by the fact that HHs in the CWL and CD systems had high levels of credit and debt, due to insufficient income and low profits.Increasing credit and debt thus pose a risk, as they are likely to become intertwined with farming strategies aimed at simply adopting a system and continuing to farm.Over time, this situation often leads to a range of social-ecological consequences , all of which perpetuate vulnerability to climate change.Although the CSR system has adapted into a modernized version of traditional small ruminant production, it is likely to be subject to further constraint due to dwindling common property resources and the decreasing availability of private lands for grazing in the future.Moreover, the scarcity of grazing resources has deprived low-income HHs of alternative and profitable livelihood opportunities from goat rearing.

The decrease in native poultry rearing is having a similar impact on these HHs, despite the presence of a niche market.In dryland regions, the current reduction in livestock rearing is leading to income losses, while also translating into decreased dietary diversity during lean periods and the loss of a critical buffer in times of drought or dry spells, as crop production is highly vulnerable to such threats.Characterization and economic performance studies like this one thus provide insight into the socio-economic and ecological dimensions of farming systems and support a more customized approach to agricultural development in dryland regions.Following, we discuss some outcomes from this study under the perspective of the WDP policy, given that it is India’s leading strategy for the development of dryland regions.Firstly, this study shows that 86% of the HHs are now practicing intensive market-oriented farming.Intensive systems are often associated with increased specialization and low integration between crop and livestock production, resulting in high-water usage and the doctoral thesis by Kuchimanchi.We thus infer that water resources generated through the soil and water conservation measures due to WDPs in the region are apparently being over-utilized by some HHs thereby decreasing the availability of water throughout the year.Likely, this also explains why only 38% of the HHs in the region have been able to adopt the CD system, or why the CWL and CD systems limit crop production to the monsoon season.A second notable outcome of the study is that, while intensification and specialization in farming have increased agricultural production, it has not led to economic prosperity.For example, the average daily per capita income for HHs in the CWL, CD, and CSR systems were USD 0.2, USD 1.2, and USD 2.4, respectively.These income values are lower than the per diem wage rate of USD 2.5, as prescribed by the Indian Ministry of Labor and Employment , and the World Bank extreme-poverty threshold of USD 1.9 day/person.Lastly, while WDPs tend to promote specific farming systems , that has induced changes in land use, cropping patterns, and livestock rearing in terms of herd size, animal type, and purpose.

The mean difference for good governance between organic and conventional farming systems was significantly different for sub-themes, mission statement and full-cost accounting.For instance, ‘Mission statement’ was significantly better for organic as organic farmers were aware of their cooperative certification and what it stood for.Similarly, in Ssebunya et al., the governance dimension recorded low scores.The sustainability performance of farming systems has several important implications for cocoa farm managers/farmers.The context in which farmers manage their cocoa farms has changed rapidly, often with little warning.The environmental specifications for producing cocoa, the socially stringent measures of abolition of child labour ensure fairness in labour conditions.These create uncertainty regarding future threats and potentials of producing cocoa through the organic or conventional farming system.This article emphasises the need to think about sustainability at the farm level at a basic level rather than the crop level.This underscores the need for improvement across the value chain.Notably, the paper highlights that farm level activities are within broader social and natural boundaries.An accurate picture of the sustainability performance of a farming system cannot be developed if these boundaries are ignored.Explicit recognition of these points in managerial decision-making would represent a marked departure for crop level that have thus far been reluctant to look beyond their walls.The SMART-FARM Tool provides the needed basis for measuring the economic, environmental, good governance and social impacts of farming systems.This, in turn, would help decision-makers better understand their sustainability risks and opportunities.This is needed because farming systems must be proactive in addressing any potential economic, environmental,vertical grow table good governance and social challenges that could emerge throughout their value chains.

Given the significant number and variety of these sustainability challenges, farming systems must prioritise the issues that need the most urgent attention.The sustainability performance of farming systems using the SMART-FARM tool provides a basis for developing comprehensive strategies to improve performance and informed decision making towards prioritising farm outputs.Implementing these strategies comes at a cost so that farmers need to tackle the inevitable tradeoffs between efficiency and adaptability.However, unless farmers master this challenge, they cannot ensure the sustainability of their farms.Climate change-induced weather anomalies, such as extreme droughts and intense rainfalls, have been increasingly observed in places where people are highly vulnerable to their various effects in recent years.Assessing the vulnerability and unequal coping capabilities to climate change and weather events has been a focus of research attention, for example, vulnerability to flooding , urban vulnerability to extreme heat , agricultural vulnerability to drought , to climate change , and to severe snowstorms.It is observed that climate change has caused polar cold air and anomalously cold extremes moving southward as a result of winter atmospheric circulation at high northern latitudes associated with Arctic sea ice loss.The increases in winter storm intensity and frequency are evident in the US, especially in both mid- and high-latitude zones , and have produced non-negligible winter weather-related losses.However, as one of the commonly seen catastrophic weather events, winter storms and their impacts are often overlooked and understudied.Winter storms have been recognized as one of the catastrophic events leading to agricultural damage and loss.In farming regions, severe winter storms such as blizzards, unending snowfalls and extremely low temperatures can lead to building damage, animal losses, and reduction in milk production.Winter storms on farmlands can also create other issues including the removal of fertile soils, traditional routines failure, and crops being wiped out.In the US, the Midwest is well recognized as a major producer of vegetables, dairy, beef cattle, and pigs.It is also a region that has experienced severe cold-air outbreaks and record numbers of snowstorms.

However, research is notably lacking in the vulnerability of farm communities to increasing winter storm events.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has contributed to assessments on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability since 1990 and created the distinct definition of vulnerability in 1997.Many climate-related vulnerability studies adopted the IPCC’s definition of vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.The three vulnerability dimensions are defined as 1) exposure that characterizes the stressors and the entities under stress, 2) sensitivity that characterizes the direct effects of the stresses, and 3) capacity of the system to cope, adapt or recover from the effects of those conditions.Building on the concept of vulnerability, several investigators have advanced the characterization of the vulnerability components and approaches to assessing vulnerability.Among them, Hahn et al.constructed the Livelihood Vulnerability Index and categorized major indicators into contributing dimensions of vulnerability to evaluate livelihood risks specifically resulting from climate change.Since then, the vulnerability index further evolved with the replacement and addition of other indicators to suit local contexts and to be more relevant for target groups.There has been an increasing recognition of the linkage between vulnerability and five core categories of capitals including natural, physical, human, social, and financial capital.These capitals were described in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework as resources used in the vulnerable context to cope with short- and long-term problems and have been integrated into indices to measure adaptive capacity.Despite various indices developed to estimate the level of vulnerability of agricultural communities to extreme weather events, suitable metrics of rural winter storm vulnerability remain under explored.To address the lack of vulnerability assessment regarding threats of winter storms in agricultural regions, this study identified rural areas of different vulnerabilities and explained factors leading to these differences by integrating local knowledge, existing indices, and statistical analyses.The synthetic vulnerability index developed in this study was anticipated to serve as a tool for adaptation planning and be adjusted to suit other climate-related vulnerability assessments or study regions.It is located in the Midwest of the United States between 40◦35′ N-43◦ 30′ N latitude and 90◦ 8′ W- 96◦ 38′ W longitude.

The state comprises 35.7 million acres, with over 85 percent of the land farmed, and has long led nationally in hog, egg, corn, and soybean productions.Iowa has an estimated population of 3.17 million in 2020 and maintains a diversified economy dominated by agriculture, manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services.There are 21 out of a total of 99 counties designated as metropolitan statistical areas in Iowa.Main metropolitan cities with a population of more than 100,000 include the capital city of Des Moines in Polk County, Cedar Rapids in Linn County, and Davenport in Scott County.Iowa is located in the heart of the blizzard belt and experiences frigid temperatures as well as dramatic storms in the winter.Average winter temperatures in the state could drop well below freezing, for example, even as low as below 6 ◦F in Cedar Falls-Waterloo, Black Hawk County.Most field investigations in this study were conducted in Black Hawk County, where about 133, 000 people reside in its twin cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo.The vulnerability was analyzed at the county level for which the complete data was available.This study conducted several semi-structured interviews in the counties of Black Hawk, Buchanan, Kossuth, and Washington to obtain farmers’ narrated perceptions on winter storm impacts.This step is important because the interviews with stakeholders can provide the necessary information and knowledge in the local context.During January to February 2019, 14 farmers that produced different types of commodities were selected using a purposive snowball sampling approach so that they can represent main on-farm activities such as crop farming and cattle ranching coded in the North American Industry Classification System.Among the interviewed farmers, 5 operated diversified farms producing animal and crop commodities, 3 operated crop farms, 4 operated livestock farms, 1 was an orchard farmer, and 1 was a poultry farmer.Their farms ranged in size from 0.25 acres for a chicken farm to 500 acres for a livestock farm.Each interview took between 30 min to 1 h to complete the questions covering topics of the three key components of vulnerability assessment.A detailed list of questions is provided in Appendix A.While the visited places did not cover the entire state, they spread across different parts of Iowa, collectively enabling a comprehensive view of winter-related issues on farms in the state.Table 2 summarizes the winter storm-related impacts on farms and Fig.2 presents the frequency of content mentioned by respondents.They have revealed that, mobile vertical grow tables in the face of winter storms, Iowa farmers were mostly concerned about animal health, building damage, water and feed shortage, and power outage.

Efficient information delivery, insurance, and windbreaks were considered important in reducing storm losses.Additionally, blizzard, extreme cold, strong wind, and icing appear to be among the main threats associated with winter storms.Extreme weather can cause significant losses and damages such as decreasing yields and commodity quality levels in agricultural production systems.The interview results showed that farmers were exposed to losses from extreme winter weather such as winter temperature fluctuations and ice storms that threaten animal health and power supplies.The increases in storm occurrences and temperature variation lead to higher exposure.Event occurrences and temperature deviation have been used in previous climatic vulnerability assessments to represent the frequency of exposure and the level of changes in daily mean weather conditions.In this study, winter storm occurrences and winter temperature deviation were selected to measure the different exposure of Iowa counties to winter.The data on event counts was collected from the Storm Event Database provided by the National Centers for Environmental Information , which contains records on the occurrence of threatening weather phenomena.Various winter-related event types were considered in this study, including blizzard, cold/wind chill, extreme cold/wind chill, frost/freeze, heavy snow, ice storm, strong wind, winter storm, and winter weather.A Python script was created to calculate the total event counts for all counties in Iowa during the winter months of December, January, and February between 2010 and 2017.Winter temperature deviation was calculated using the minimum and maximum temperatures for each county downloaded from Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model website which provides climate observations in the US at multiple spatial/temporal resolutions.From the interview results, it was found that the immediate impacts of winter storms came from affected on-farm structures and activities such as animal husbandry and building damage.Poorly constructed buildings appear to increase sensitivity to climate impacts.Animal health can be threatened by low temperatures and restrained freshwater access.Livestock farms are highly dependent on the climate conditions of a given year and they have to make considerable efforts to prepare supplies, implement actions, and recover in the face of winter storms.On the contrary, crop farms appear less sensitive during winter since crops are usually harvested back in the autumn.Thus, animal commodities sale and building age were selected as sensitivity determinants and represented using the 2012 farm sale statistics retrieved from the United States Department of Agriculture QuickStats and the 2012–2016 housing characteristics data collected from the US Census Bureau.Adaptive capacity is the ability to take actions and make adjustments to reduce adverse impacts resulting from climate-related hazards.The ability to cope with extreme weather events varies depending on assets, tangible and intangible, that support people’s livelihoods.These livelihood resources are seen as “capitals” and can influence adaptive capacity and thus vulnerability.Based on the five forms of capitals described in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, this study identified multiple adaptive capacity indicators from five dimensions: Natural capital.Farms surrounded by trees as windbreaks are assumed to be more protected from strong wind, therefore less vulnerable.This study used a georeferenced, raster-formatted and cropland specific land cover data layer downloaded from CropScape to extract pasture and tree cover in each county.Pastures with windbreaks were identified using a specified search radius of 200 feet as the recommended distance of a proper tree windbreak.Financial capital.Poverty has been included as a vulnerability factor.It is assumed that households with lower income possess fewer assets such as equipment and appliances that can help with the maintenance of buildings and animals.Thus, farm income and poverty were included as indicators for financial capital.The poverty rate and farm income for the year of 2012 were collected from the US Census Bureau and USDA QuickStats, respectively.Physical capital.Access to the Internet is considered the dominant way to collect all sorts of environmental knowledge to assist with decision-making.With sufficient Internet access, households can stay informed and are more likely to benefit from new policies and plans launched in real-time.This mirrors the qualitative interview results that have highlighted the importance of information.In this study, internet access was indicated by internet operations collected from USDA QuickStats.

Studies indicate that gender, religion, class, and positions within households, and other cultural values also affect the uptake of information.As a result of the variety of social-economic and cultural factors which affect the uptake of forecast information, there is the need to focus on context-specific issues rather than wholesale generalizations of challenges.Hence, in Ghana, dissemination and farmers’ access to WIS has drastically improved.And the substantial body of knowledge on climate information science is developing in Ghana and elsewhere in sub-Sahara Africa.However, there is little evidence that WIS is applied in decision-making processes, including adaptive for smallholder farmers.Meanwhile, variability in climatic conditions affect farmers’ decision-making strategies, leading to low crop yield and increasing financial burdens on farmers in Ghana.We argue that the use of WIS for informed decision-making in farming requires an understanding of the usefulness and usability of WIS in terms of farmers’ definitions and perceptions.This knowledge gap is not well understood in the literature in Ghana and elsewhere in developing countries.Thus, providing WIS that is readily usable for decision-making in farming requires navigation and bridging any differences that might exist between what scientists/information providers perceive as useful and what is usable in practice.Therefore, this study examines the weather information services usability for farming decision-making with evidence from Ghana’s Ada East District.We organised the study into six sections.The study’s conceptual framework is presented in the next section, followed by a section on research methods.Subsequently, the study findings are presented in section 4,dutch buckets system followed by the discussion and conclusion in sections 5 and 6.

Usable information is defined in various ways to understand the relationship between information providers and users.We build on earlier definitions by attuning them to the farming context, where usable information is information that farmers are able to use as input for farming decisions.Although the terms useful and usable are often used interchangeably in the literature, they do not mean the same thing.Useful information is potentially relevant for decision-making, yet, because users may not know or may have unrealistic expectations about how it fits their decision-making, they may choose to ignore it.On the other hand, usable information is the knowledge that is readily applicable by users in the formulation of strategies under uncertain conditions like climate change and variability.Hence, although all forms of user-inspired knowledge are in principle useful, they are not always usable unless users and producers take specific steps to ensure that useful information is applied.On this note, it can be said that useful information relates to information providers’ outlook.In contrast, usable information pertains to users’ viewpoint about how applicable the information is for decision making in their context, considering factors such as availability of resources.It is precisely these different perceptions and understandings of useful and usable information between information providers and users that create the usability gap reflected in the low uptake of WIS.Dilling and Lemos distinguished the usability gap in climate information by indicating two broad areas: context and information production.For farming, context relates more to the farmer and issues arising from the farming community; for example, conservatism towards applying new information.Although this aspect of the usability gap is relevant, our study focuses on the information design and delivery aspect, which pertains to how information providers produce and deliver information to enable its usability.We build on Dilling and Lemos’ framework to develop analytical criteria for our study by attuning some of their factors with ours.

We expand on their framework, which focuses mainly on the formal scientific production of climate information services on a global scale.We do so by building five information design and delivery analytical criteria by adapting aspects of their framework and other new criteria derived from the literature to assess information design and delivery for farming.Local embeddedness refers to how information design and delivery connect with local farming conditions and context in a specific community.This criterion can relate to a situation where WIS is provided, including the knowledge of farmers, so that their unique characteristics, rules, farmers’ exposure to different sources of information, and information seeking and sharing behaviour are captured in the information design.Additionally, an information design with local embeddedness may include other relevant information design features such as agrometeorological indicators, agronomic tips, and so forth.The information should also be linked to farmers’ personal characteristics and social networks.Legitimacy denotes that information design and delivery conform to farmers’ interests, values, concerns, and perspectives, resulting in acceptability.Farmers may judge the legitimacy of the WIS based on who participated or not in its design and delivery.Here, the information design and delivery may consider several options, such as respect for farmers’ value and how the WIS connects to the contextual needs of farmers.Information providers may also attain legitimacy by maintaining mutual trust and respect.It also implies the alignment of the information to farmers’ local knowledge and values.Furthermore, the legitimacy of information can be affected if a forecast fails, is irregularly delivered, or is associated with long delivery chains and political biases.The temporal aspect of information design and delivery indicates when to expect specific weather conditions for farming, whereas the spatial resolution denotes the surface area for which information providers produce the forecast.The temporal criterion of information design and delivery may consider when the information delivery will be relevant to determine when to plough, sow seeds, or select crop varieties.Also, the presentation of timing as early onset, usual onset, and late onset in a seasonal forecast may be a relevant information design characteristic.

Information providers can tailor the information into high spatial resolution by integrating farmers’ local forecasts and analysing the implications of the projection with farmers.When the information design includes the delivery of high spatial resolution, some trade-off needs to be made between skill and scale criteria.We conducted the study in the Ada East District in the coastal savanna agroecological zone, where agriculture is the main economic activity.Agricultural activity in the district consists mainly of cultivating of vegetables, cassava, maize, watermelon, and other crops.Despite the relevance of farming for livelihood development and food supply to urban markets, the area experiences long dry spells, frequent dry spells, and low mean rainfall during the rainy seasons.The coastal savanna agroecological zone also experiences interannual variability interms of seasonal rainfall.In the area, the complex series of coastal/oceanic and atmospheric interactions including the role of the inter-tropical convergence zone contribute to uncertainty in weather conditions.These incidences have several implications, such as loss of planting materials, crop failure, and low yield.The Ada East District is selected for the study among other districts in the coastal savanna agroecological zones because the district is one of vegetable producing areas, including the Anloga-Keta area.Although the district shares the same climatic conditions with other districts, the availability of water to support the growth of crops is a challenge, compared to other districts such as the Anloga District and the Keta Municipality, which has groundwater available for farming throughout the year.In the district, the application of forecast information to support decision-making in farming is crucial.Despite growing research on the climate information sector in Ghana, most studies have focused on the Guinea, Sudan and the Sahal savanna agroecological regions.Hence, little knowledge exists on the provision of forecast information for farming in the coastal savanna agroecological area.

We argue that for the country to be food secure, there is the need to focus on regions especially, the Ada area, where water availability is a challenge despite its prominent role in the supply of food to rural and urban areas in Ghana.A qualitative research approach was applied in this study to establish rapport with research participants and use the findings to inform policy.Hence, in this study, we combined semi-structured interviews and focus group discussion methods to cross validate research findings and derived detailed information concerning the study’s objective.The qualitative research was conducted from June 2017–March 2018 in two phases, with results from phase one informing the organisation of the subsequent phase.The period stated above includes the performance of activities such as community entry, reconnaissance survey, informal conversations with farmers and stakeholders, and the actual data collection.The application of semi-structured interviews and FGDs as two phases of the research is described below.In the Ada East District, three farmers from each of the following communities were engaged in semi-structured interviews: Kasseh, Asigbekope, Bedeku, Ada Foah, Toje, Ocanseykope, Anyarkpor, Angorsekope, Dogo, Totimekope, Kajanya, Atortorkope and Tovie.At Detsekope, we interviewed one farmer, and at Kpodokope, we interviewed two farmers.This amounted to a total number of 42 semi-structured interviews in the Ada East District.With the assistance of agricultural extension agents and some community leaders, farmers were selected based on their availability, gender, dutch buckets use of WIS for farming, age, experience in farming, social status, and farming practices.We conducted interviews with either one male and two female household heads or two male and one female household head in each community.Participants in the interviews and the FGDs consented to partake in the study, and we assured them that their identity would be concealed in presenting research findings.The lead author conducted interviews in person, and respondents agreed that the researcher recorded the discussions.In the interviews, questions were posed on the types of WIS used, the extent of use, the ranking of the extent of use, explanations for a specific WIS’s choice over others, and other emerging issues were discussed.

The outcome of the semi-structured interviews informed the design of FGDs, to derive an in-depth understanding of farmers’ views concerning the types of WIS and the emerging factors which affected the usability of WIS for farming in the study district.Through the FGDs, we uncovered personal and communal attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of discussants concerning the types of WIS and their usability for farming.We designed the FGDs to elicit the interwoven factors that enhanced or obstructed WIS usability in the communities, when a participant indicated that an information provider delivered regular information, the group discussed and agreed on the definition.For example, guided by the lead author, discussants agreed that ‘regular’ could mean the daily or weekly provision of WIS.Overall, three FGDs were conducted in three communities: Toje, Anyarkpor, and Wassakuse.The three communities were representative of the three agricultural zones in the district, namely, the Kasseh, Big Ada, and the Ada Foah Zones.Through this cluster, we analyzed and derived general issues that affected the usability of WIS for farming in the district.The FGDs comprised eight to ten male and female farmers who were not part of the semi-structured interviews.At Toje, the discussants consisted of two older women, two younger women, three young men, and three older men.At Anyarkpor, there were nine participants in the FGD, comprising of three older women; one young woman; two young men; and three older men.At the same time, the FGD conducted in Wassakuse consisted of eight participants , for a total of 27 participants.There were no exclusive groupings of participants because, in the study district, women are allowed to freely express their views on issues in the presence of their male counterparts.Also, we sort to generate answers to the research in a context where participants could respond to multiple opinions.Thus, when a participant responded to a question, other discussants corrected or realigned some views together.Since we conducted the FGD purposively with different generational groups mixed together, we catered for the possible emergence of power and gender inequalities by calling each participant to express their opinion on a specific question.This approach helped to moderate the discussion and ensured that overactive participants did not dominate the entire discussion.We also called participants to vote on certain opinions, especially about the factors that enhance or obstruct the usability of weather information services and the ranking of the different information providers, including the district.Data analysis was carried out in three stages.The first stage involved the transcription of audio recordings of the semi-structured interviews and FGDs.We edited the transcripts by identifying the responses generated to specific questions, realigned sentence structures, and clarified the construction of some sentences.During this time, in addition to the field notes, we took notes on emerging issues.The next aspect of this stage involved grouping the transcript contents into specific identifiable themes.Second, we conducted inductive coding to identify the factors that affect WIS usability based on recurring words running through the transcripts.

Cash contribution significantly influenced farm productivity of the cocoa-based farming households.This implies that a naira increase in the amount contributed, increased farm productivity by 1.007 kg/₦.Farmers’ cash commitment in many social groups enhance their access to loans, which increases their farm productivity.Since the additive form of social capital improves farm productivity of the households, there is a need to investigate the endogeneity effect of social capital on the economic outcome.The introduction of multiplicative social capital variable in the third column of Table 6 lays the foundation for further investigation on the endogeneity effect of social capital.The inclusion of this variable led to slight improvement in Chi2 of 45.36 compared to the baseline model.This result is similar to the findings of Agboola et al..Along with the social-economic/demographic variables, aggregate social capital significantly influenced the farm productivity of cocoa-based farming households where a unit increase in aggregate social capital increased productivity by 0.513 kg/₦.This implies that participation in social groups enhances members’ welfare, including farm productivity.However, accounting for strong bi-directional causality between social capital and farm productivity , using the aggregate social capital model, the original social capital was replaced by an instrumental variable.This choice was guided by correlation and Sargan result of the instrumental variables with the social capital and farm productivity, as suggested by Okunmadewa et al., Omonona et al., Balogun and Yusuf , Adepoju and Oni , and Balogun et al..The instrumental variable leads to a higher coefficient for the social capital than in the actual social capital model.This implies that the direct effect of social capital outweighs the reverse effect.

A unit increase in the instrumented social capital would increase household’s farm productivity by 0.577 kg/₦.Nevertheless, accounting for linear interaction of social capital with unobservables,ebb flow tray the coefficient decreases to 0.218.This result is adopted, because it takes into account the interactions between social capital and the unobservable effect on farm productivity.Based on the result, social capital is endogenous to farm productivity and it should be explored among people of similar characteristics in order to improve their productivity.Thus, social capital is an important factor in improving cocoa farming households’ farm productivity in Southwestern, Nigeria.The basic model is shown in the first column of Table 7.The rationale behind this model is to examine the food security of the households while they are not involved in social capital activities.The Chi2 value showed the econometric modelling is appropriate and correctly specified.This implies that a unit increase in age of household head decreased their food security by 0.394 calories.This is because old household heads’ farm productivity decline as they grow older, which impacts negatively on their households’ food security.Household size significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.This implies that an additional member to the households decreased the food security status by 0.527 calories.This is because large households put pressure on household resources including food.Illiteracy significantly decreased the food security by 0.775 calories.However, primary and secondary education significantly increased households’ food security by 0.512 and 0.551 calories, respectively.This could be attributed to the fact that education provides farmers with knowledge of food groups, which eventually improves their food security.Farm size was positive and significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.A unit increase in farm size increased the food security by 0.834 calories.This is because resources and cultivation on large farms can increase food production.Farm productivity significantly influenced food security of the cocoabased farming households.

The implication of this is that a unit increase in the output of farmers increased the food security status by 0.307 calories.This is because increase in farm productivity can increase a household’s propensity to consume more through increased food production or by having income available to buy food at any time.Savings significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a naira increase in savings of the households increased the food security by 0.125 calories.This is because households may adjust to continual lack of access to credit and save money to improve their food security.The model suggests that households’ social-economic characteristics, farm specifics and credit variables play a significant role in improving food security in the study area.The second column of Table 7 shows the inclusion of six additive forms of social capital variables identified in this study.These include density of membership, decision making, cash contribution, labour contribution, meeting attendance and heterogeneity.The rationale behind the model is to examine the food security of the households while they are involved in social capital activities.This new model has a better food security level as reflected in the Chi2 of 45.50.This suggests that household food security improves as households become involved in the affairs of their social groups.This model shows that the effect of social capital on food security is traceable to meeting attendance, decision making, membership density and cash contribution.Meeting attendance significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a unit increase in attendance of meetings increased the food security of farmers by 0.269 calories.This is due to the fact that participants who recurrently attended group meetings have access to farming and entrepreneurial abilities to improve their farm productivity, which improves their food security status.Decision making index significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a unit increase in participation of household members in the decision of the group increased the food security by 0.819 calories.This is because farmers who participated actively in decision making of the social groups are well situated to enjoy the benefits of their association, which improves their food security.Cash contribution significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a naira increase in the amount contributed to their social groups increased food security by 0.401 calories.

Farmers’ cash commitment in many social groups enhance their access to loan for consumption purposes, thereby resulting in improved food security.Membership density significantly influenced food security of the cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a unit increase in the number of social groups a farmer belongs to, increases food security by 0.161 calories.As individuals increase the number of groups, they have active participation; the probability of accessing loans for consumption purpose in many groups is high, thereby resulting in improved food security.Since the additive form of social capital improves the food security of the households, there is a need to investigate the endogeneity effect of social capital on the economic outcome.The introduction of multiplicative social capital variable in the third column of Table 7 lays the foundation for investigation into the endogeneity effect of social capital.The inclusion of this variable led to slight improvement in the Chi2 of 48.91.This result is similar to the finding of Agboola et al..Along with the social-economic/demographic variables, aggregate social capital significantly influenced the food security of cocoa-based farming households.The implication of this is that a unit increase in aggregate social capital increased the food security of the farmers by 0.807 calories.This implies that participation in social groups enhances members’ welfare including food security.However, accounting for strong bi-directional causality between social capital and food security using the aggregate social capital model, the original social capital was replaced by an instrumental variable.The instrumental variable method leads to a bit higher coefficient for the social capital than in the actual social capital model.This implies that the direct effect of social capital outweighs the reverse effect in the explanation of the correlation between the two variables.A unit increase in the instrumented social capital would increase the food security of households by 0.861 calories.However, with the control for linear interactions of social capital with unobservables, the coefficient reduced.This result is adopted, because it takes into account the interactions between social capital and the unobservables in its effect on food security.Based on the result, social capital is endogenous to food security and should be explored among people of similar characteristics in order to improve their food security status.Thus, social capital is an important factor in improving the cocoa farming households’ food security in Southwestern, Nigeria.The instrumental variable approach is the most efficient way to account for all forms of endogeneity, provided suitable instruments are identified.However,flood and drain tray the necessary condition is that the proposed instrument must be correlated with the endogenous explanatory variable, but uncorrelated with the dependent variable and error term.On the basis of correlation analysis, two instruments such as length of residency and membership in ethnic group were identified.

The next challenge is identifying a suitable instrument satisfying sufficient conditions of the Sargan test of over identification.In this regard, Sargan standard over-identification test for validation of the instruments was carried out.The satisfying condition is that the instrument’s p value must exceed significance values of 0.1, to be a valid instrument.The Sargan result of over-identification test is presented in Table 8 and only length of residency is reported to be a valid instrument, because its p value exceeds significance values of 0.1.Thus, on the basis of correlation and Sargan analyses, length of residency was selected to address the endogeneity issue from participation in social networks.Therefore, our estimates on the impact of social capital on farm productivity and food security is unbiased and consistent.Kalimantan Island frequently named as “Borneo” has its original inhabitants which so-called Dayak.According to Ukur , the Dayak tribe is divided into seven races or ethnics and grouped into 405 sub-ethnics which are spread in various areas in the world’s third largest island by the width of 743,330 km2.The grouping of Dayak ethnics and sub-ethnics is based on the similarity of place of residence and language while for custom, art, and culture are more or less the same.Based on this grouping, according to Nieuwenhuis , a Dutch medical doctor and a botanist, mapped the residence of various Dayak ethnics in Borneo until the end of the 19th century.At that time, the distribution of the Dayak people was mapped based on their residence and the characteristic of homogeneous society that can be seen through its clans and organization system.There has not been much significant movement of population from one region to another.Therefore, the Dayak people in the pre-20th century lived in groups and settled according to their respective territories so that they were the rulers of their regions.Reviewing from the livelihood system, as an effort to meet food for daily needs, the life of the Dayak people has been polarized with a system of “farming”.Farming means a system of shifting cultivation from one plot of land to another.Usually the field cleared by slashing, cutting, and burning the forest system without destroying the forest and the surrounding environment.That is what so-called by “system” that is the existence of a local wisdom and values behind it.This is not only the value of wisdom and the way to sustain life, but there are other values implied such as togetherness, compassion, mutual cooperation, arts, as well as ritual and spiritual aspects in the entire cycles of farming in the Dayak community.The treatment of indigenous peoples has gradually evolved, beginning with views of natives as endangered, followed by targeted assimilation and civilizing missions, protectionism and an ethical duty of care, and finally leading to discourses of rights and recognition.To comply with the needs of their daily lives, Dayak people maintain the system order and natural systems and their environment as stipulated in Customary or Adat Law.Acts of destructing and polluting the environment whether intentionally or unintentionally will be subject to sanctions to the doer.For instance, if anyone burns a field and the fire spreads to neighboring lands, he will receive a customary sanction or adat fine.Similarly, if people do fishing using poison , it can kill fish massively, then the doers will also be subject to customary sanctions.Thus, it is clear that the Dayak people place the environment and nature as an integral part of the whole series and their cycle of life.Preserving and taking care of the nature and environment means maintaining and preserving the breath, biota life, and creatures inhabiting it.On the other hand, destroying the nature and environment means harming and threatening the breath, biota life, and its inhabitants.Overall in the Kalimantan region, there are 5 provinces consisting of West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan which have a similar management system in farming.

The dataset collected farmers’ opinions based on seven factors from the TPB-NAM integration model.In particular, TPB has been accepted and widely used in studies with the purpose of predicting individual intentions and behavior, empirical studies have shown the relevance of this theory in the study of farmers’ intentions/behavior.NAM is derived from a pro-social context and has been widely used in many studies to explain not only pro-social intentions/behavior but also pro-environmental intentions/behavior in a wide range of contexts.The data set was collected through a 2-part survey: the first part explores the respondents’ characteristics including: gender, age, educational qualification, farming experience and farming annual income ; the second part explores respondents’ consent to statements related to factors affecting the intention to produce organic agriculture ; Table 3 shows more detailed results between the variables.It took the farmer about 20 minutes to complete the entire survey.The survey was conducted directly at the farmer’s residence or farm in October 2019.The survey team received the support from Department of Science and Technology in Hanoi to list and approach the target farmers.Respondents were farmers who were practicing conventional farming in Hanoi, Vietnam.Respondents were selected at random but still ensured their representativeness in some regions that were promoting the conversion to organic farming such as Soc Son, Chuong My, Ba Vi,…in Hanoi.Each farmer participating in the survey received a support of 2 US dollar after completing all the contents of the questionnaire which were distributed directly and collected by the survey team.The survey team designed a survey of 38 items, of which 5 were about respondents’ characteristics, the remaining 33 items, are designed on a 5-point Likert scale , focus on 7 factors: intention, ebb and flow bench attitude, subject norms, perceived behavioral control, personal norm, awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibility.

All items in the survey are inherited from previous studies and the replying is complete mandatory to ensure that the collected data does not contain missing data.The questionnaire did not use the reverse question, which was conducted directly by the survey team, with detailed observations and assisting farmers in the answer process.All responses of the respondents were imported into Excel software before importing to SPSS 22.Before the analysis, the variables were encoded and the data were checked to ensure the validity of each questionnaire.After discarding invalid questionnaires, the final dataset contained 318 questionnaires.Bangladesh is ranked as the fifth-largest aquaculture-producing nation.The shrimp culture contributes 71.4 % to the total national production.The aquaculture industry has shown rapid growth with a critical role in Bangladesh’s economy, becoming the second-largest export industry after garments.It started to grow slowly in a commercial mode of aquaculture in the middle 1970s due to increasing demand in the international market.Shrimp culture mainly practices in Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, and Cox’s Bazar districts of Bangladesh.It is safe to say that shrimp culture in these areas richly supports the sustainability, resilience, and social-economic status of the coastal shrimp farmer communities.The fisheries sector contributed approximately 2.73 % of the total export earnings and 22.21 % to the agricultural industry.Export earnings from the fisheries sector have increased from USD 151,244,659 in 1995–1996 to USD 356,707,522 in 2009–2010 , which is more than double, hence shows a promising potential in this sector to uplift the poor farming communities.The booming shrimp farming industry generated diverse employment opportunities, with the 87,000 persons directly involved in farming activities, while other 5000–6000 families working in the shrimp processing and ancillary industries.The latest estimates illustrate that a large area of saline land is under shrimp cultivation in Bangladesh , making it a reasonable stakeholder in the national economy and bringing profitable usage of the uncultivable land.Currently, shrimp farming and allied industries are the primary income sources for the rural communities of south-western and southeastern coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Among the aquaculture types, shrimp aquaculture has shown rapid growth with a critical role in Bangladesh’s economy.The United Nations Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization have reported approximately 2.1 lac hectares of the land went under shrimp farming.Out of which, 93,799 shrimp farms are Bagda , and Golda are cultured in 67,644 farms.Previously, the area under brackish water prawn culture was 128,274 ha, while freshwater prawns culture has grown to 28,411 ha, making 156945 ha.It represents about 80 % of the total area under shrimp cultivation in Bangladesh.Among the essential shrimp species, brackish water shrimp farming is currently one of the most popular concerning the national economy.In Southern Bangladesh, thousands of farmers have transformed their none-profiting paddy fields to ’gher’ to start as a profitable shrimp culture practice.The P.monodon culture in Bangladesh is practiced in the ponds situated alongside a river.This modification entails the construction of higher dikes by excavating a deep enough canal inside, and the periphery of the dikes facilitates entry of the water during the dry season.The commercial shrimp culture began in the 1970s and radically expanded in the ensuing decades.Furthermore, it has taken place mainly on the reclaimed mangrove forest areas in the Sundarban region at Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira District.We planned this study to highlight how modern shrimp farming practices could have improved and influenced the livelihood patterns, social-economic status, household structures, and overall living standards of the coastal communities in Southern Bangladesh as they are directly involved in shrimp farming.We expected that the study could provide better insights into promoting sustainable shrimp farming in southwest coastal Bangladesh.The main objectives of our study include the understanding of potential changes in shrimp farming in the southwest coastal Bangladesh.Therefore, we assessed shrimp farming’s major social-economic status indicators, indicating the significant phases and present shrimp farming situation.We also surveyed for income and satisfaction levels among the shrimp farming communities.

The study area map denoting three wards is showing in Fig.1.The study was conducted in three wards of Ishwaripur Union under Shyamnagar Upazila, Satkhira District, located near the Sundarbans in southwest coastal Bangladesh.We randomly selected the survey respondents among the shrimp farmers located in the study area.The total population of the Ishwaripur Union is 45,202 , with 49 % male and 51 % female inhabitants.Muslim community dominates as 74 %, while the rest of them are other religios communities.The literacy rate is reported at 55.04 percent with limited educational institutions.Please see the supplementary material Table 1 for detailed information on educational institutions present in the study area.In Shyamnagar Upazila, a large number of farmers are involved in shrimp farming.The respondents were selected from three different locations, i.e., location 1 , location 2 , and location 3 in Ishwaripur Union under Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira, Bangladesh.A total of 50 respondents were interviewed by questionnaire method, and 2 case studies were conducted among the respondents.In these case studies, the sample size was determined by a stratified proportionate sampling method through the total shrimp farming household.The total number of households and sample size in each ward in the study area are shown in supplementary material Table 2.The distribution of frequency and percentage of respondents were categorized based on the land size in their farms is shown in supplementary material Table 3.A questionnaire was designed to survey the social-economic issues due to shrimp farming and its implications on local livelihood.The preliminary survey focused on the shrimp farmers current social-economic status.During this survey, the data were collected by the pre-tested draft questionnaire from the two respondents of each category.Then the questionnaire was finalized for collecting the necessary data through the interview method.The survey method was conducted through direct interviews with the different stakeholders.The information was also collected about the earlier traditional social structure and livelihood status of shrimp farming stakeholders, and we checked they changed or not due to shrimp farming.We also analyzed the intragenerational changes in the sustainability of livelihood framework such as age group, educational status,4x8ft rolling benches alternative occupation, social status, financial capital assets were also analyzed by DFID for determining the impacts of shrimp farming development at the coastal area of Bangladesh and financial capital assets to determine the effects of shrimp farming development in Bangladesh’s coastal region.

The data was collected through direct observation and transect walk toolkit.The primary data were collected through the questionnaire survey group discussion and interview.However, all the data were crosschecked to ensure the accuracy of data collected from the respondents.The Focus Group discussions were conducted to identify the problems and collect fishermen’s recommendations regarding the issues identified to develop an effective solution.We performed the data error analyses, management, standardization, scaling, and other procedures.According to the total response value of open-ended answers, the information was categorized during data processing.The tabulation was performed by using the Statistical Package for Social Science , while Microsoft Excel was used to prepare the illustrations.The leading percentages of shrimp farmers age groups comprised of the middle age, i.e., 36–40 years old and above 40 years.Less than 30 years old farmers made up only 6%, with 31− 35 years old as 18 %.The previous studies have shown that most 16–30 aged displayed the highest involvement in this occupation.The shrimp farmers age distribution provides valuable insights into the decision-making and profitable farming operations ability.It is critical to notice that the younger people displayed no interest in shrimp fishing , which alludes to looming crises if the situation prevails.On the other hand, the respondents educational status was categorized into six categories.The 24 % of the farmers obtained SSC and upper-level education, while 76 % did not enter high school, with 14 % as illiterates.It is alarming to note only 8% of farmers with university level education.Das et al.reported that 75 % of the fishing community was illiterate.However, our study exhibited a different trend believed to be improving due to the uplift of the shrimp farming communities social-economic status.Rahman reported that the fishermen are socially, economically, and educationally disadvantaged and lack sufficient financial resources to invest in education.Karim and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council revealed low or no education as the characteristic feature in rural life in some villages.Owing to higher financial stress, the shrimp farmers relied on alternative occupations to meet their financial demands.This study showed the tendency of alternative careers among the shrimp farmers.We found that people in the study area were involved with diverse professions.Fishing , agriculture , and private businesses remained the most preferred primary sources of income among the shrimp farmers, while personal business was the most preferred secondary source of income.It indicated that a considerable percentage of shrimp farmers relied upon various alternative sources to meet their financial demands.Due to the higher subsistence level, the seasonal and sometimes professional fishers are engaged in multiple earning activities on a part-time basis, especially during the low season for fishing.Many fishers were also involved in agricultural activities.The increasing percentages of executive involvement are noticeable in the study area, a promising sign for the shrimp farming community.The quality of life and living standard depend on the adequacy of living resources, education status, industrial production, and agricultural practices.More or less, electricity is inevitable to maintain sustainable living standards.Our data revealed that 34 % of the farmers have no access to electricity.For the rest of the inhabitants, the primary sources of electricity are the Rural Electrification Board and solar energy , with other sources including battery and oil engine generators.However, compared to the preceding reports, the mainstream shrimp farmers can use electricity and allied facilities in their households and farming units.It denoted significant development and improvement in the coastal communities living standards directly linked to shrimp farming in Bangladesh.Most of the people used pond sand filter facilities for drinking water.However, fewer people have to use rainwater after harvesting it while the rest use water directly from the pond without any filtration.Hossain et al.and Ali et al.observed that a large share of collected water was brought from the government groundwater tube well and neighboring tube-well in Bangladesh.Due to the critical and demanding nature of natural water supply, most of the population is concerned about drinking water safety, with a moderate population of people opined having no idea.Only 10 % pronounced it as unsafe for drinking purposes.The provision of safe drinking water for livestock animals was not considered during this study.Safe drinking water is of paramount importance for the human populations as well as sustainable management of drinking waters is equally essential as it is liable for health and public safety.

Solar and biomass technologies are reportedly the widest adopted renewable energy technologies in the country with potential yearly solar irradiation and large amount of biodegradable waste available from farming facilities. However, there is still a lot of efforts to be done to meet the national electricity targets access of 100 % by 2030. These efforts mainly depend on financial resources availability and electrification strategies to be put in place through public private partnerships like in most Sub-Saharan African countries. The PPPs in the energy sector usually address the energy deficit in two ways : by refurbishing existing energy infrastructures such as power plants, transmission, and distribution networks in connected urban and rural arears in SSA and, by investing in the development and installation of RETs in existing disconnected localities. As such, since most disconnected localities in Africa have a proven untapped agricultural potential, many private power developers are promoting the implementation of de-centralized mini-utilities, also called mini-grids. These minigrids are used as alternative cost-effective energy solutions using locally available resources, specifically solar and abundant biomass. From this perspective, this paper briefly presents and encourages the development of a pilot Biogas-Solar Photovoltaic Hybrid Mini-grid in the town of Palapye. In fact, BSPVHM addresses power shortage by using sunlight and bio-waste to generate eco-friendly energy at a lower installation and operating cost. Through an autonomous energy management system, the BSPVHM allows to generate electricity while managing the supply of power from various sources. Apart from electricity, the BSPVHM produces fertilizers from the remaining digestate after anaerobic digestion that occurs in the bio-digester. These fertilizers can be used after treatment to increase the production of crops through soil enhancement techniques,vertical grow rack allowing farmers to have greater harvest, become energy independent and boost the local economy.

The purpose of this pilot project is to serve as a road map for a waste management and electricity supply in African localities with the similar context like the city of Palapye. This is achieved through the review of the state of the art, the assessment of available solar and waste ressources in Palapye, the preliminary design of the configuration of the BSPVHM, and future recommendations based on the projected limitations of this pilot project.The use of traditional fossil fuel technologies is largely adopted in many African countries. These technologies allow them to quickly address the existing lack of power in their underserved areas. For this reason, various industries use diesel / heavy fuel oil gensets to meet their daily energy demand. However, diesel and HFO are not affordable for everyone and not ecofriendly. Apart from electricity, pollution is another source of sicknesses such as lung infections in rural arears. Studies show that most women suffer from lung infections due to the use of charcoal that are used for cooking. Africa reportedly releases more than 1.3 billion tons of CO2 on a yearly basis from various industries. To alleviate this pollution, a clean energy revolution in Africa is essential especially in SSA. In addition to environmental benefits offered, clean energy sources can unlock sustainable economic growth, improve human health, and empower women and children to live more productively. Mini-grid systems powered by RETs sources such as solar PV and biomass energy are adequate energy solutions for African disconnected areas with high agricultural potential. Even though solar PV and biomass are both RETs and biomass has a greater installed capacity in the world than solar PV, the latter is the most widely used form of energy generation source in the world nowadays. Solar PV is a mature technology that converts solar radiation energy into electricity by means of different equipment, principally solar modules, and power inverters. This kind of technology is currently amongst the most adopted energy sources due to its reliability and capacity to produce electricity at reasonably low cost despite its intermittencies. One of the main drivers considered to analyze the suitability of solar PV generation for a specific location is the solar irradiation level of that proposed site. SSA has one of highest irradiation levels in the world and is seen as the best place to develop and install such solar RETs.

The main limitations of solar PV are its inability to produce electricity in absence of solar radiation and the intermittency of its production, caused by weather disturbances. Solar energy is produced during the central hours of the day, which depends on the time that the sun raises and sets across the different periods of the year. The production of the solar plant is highly dependent on the altitude of the sun, weather disturbances during each season, the orientation towards the North, seasonal variations that affects the productibility. Biomass technologies include gasification, pyrolysis, AD, landfill, ethanol fermentation, photobiological process, dark fermentation, microbial fuel cell and microbial electrolysis cell . Biomass gasification is the most widely adopted waste-to-energy technologies technique for hybrid mini-grid set-up with solar PV. Generally, the gasifier is fed with wastes such as maize cobs and rice husks with a combustion process at 150°C to produce syngas that is filtered and converted to electricity by means of a multi-stage gasifier generator. In addition, bio-char which is a process by-product is used in the briquette making. These hybrid set-ups are largely found in Bangladesh, India and Uganda. The advantage of gasification is that it operates with a large diversity of wastes compared to AD that only works with organic waste with high moisture content and cellulose. The main disadvantage of this technique is that gasifier requires a lot of energy, release more carbon CO2 in the atmosphere and does not offer a competitive business model for agricultural communities like AD. AD produces biogas to generate electricity, heat, fuel and fertilizers from agricultural wastes and organic fraction of municipal solid wastes. Unlike solar PV that is intermittent, biogas power plant is base-load and can generate power at any time of the day depending on the feed stock intake in the digester. One of the challenges is that waste to energy technologies are more costly than solar PV in terms of installation and operations and Maintenance costs during asset lifespan.These KPIs are the design of the power plant, availability and quality of feed stocks, biomethane potential of substrates to be used, type of digestions that is selected, temperature conditions of the process , capacity factor of the biogas power plant, electricity conversion factor of the generator, viability of the tariff at which electricity will be sold and market profitability of by-products such as biofertilizer from AD digestate that accounts for 90% of the remaining digestate after power generation. These KPIs are the reasons as to why it is not as widely adopted as other RETs such as solar PV or onshore wind technologies . The current food regime has created a number of persistent environmental problems, such as climate change, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, while it has also driven many farms to the verge of financial profitability.

Addressing these problems through a fundamental reorientation of the food system—a sustainability transition—calls for substantial changes taking place at the level of farm systems. However, farmers have been frequently described as being amongst the least powerful actors in food systems, acting mostly as price-takers, which makes them ill-equipped to act as transition agents . The contemporary food system is pushing farms towards more specialisation, intensification and growth to keep up with the cost-price squeeze , while the pressures for a fundamental reorientation in farming are mounting for the sake of environmental sustainability. The traditional approach to confronting sustainability problems as related to production practices and farm management has been advocated for decades through, for example, agri-environmental policies within the European Union. However, critics argue that many such strategies do not challenge the systemic features that contributed to the problems in the first place and are thus inadequate to address the root causes of sustainability problems. The consumption approach takes a different position, attributing the environmental crisis to consumption patterns, especially over-consumption of high-impact animal-based products . Under this approach, a dietary transition towards more plant-based consumption is the most critical solution to address the sustainability problems of the food system. However, the dietary transition translates as a threat to the livelihood of especially many peripheral regions where farms and farmers lack feasible production and employment alternatives due to unfavourable growing conditions and paucity of non-agricultural jobs . The problem with both production- and consumption-oriented perspectives is that they do not address questions of power and agency that are fundamental elements of the unsustainability of the contemporary food system . Accordingly, as Garnett states: “The concern lies not just with production, and not just with consumption: it is the outcome of unequal relationships between and amongst producers and consumers, across and within countries and communities.” Yet the questions of power, agency and social justice have received limited research interest in relation to initiatives promoting sustainability and climate change mitigation amongst food systems . To this end, an emerging area of ‘just transitions’ research has been gaining a stronger foothold amongst the sustainability transitions literature . In the context of food systems, research on just sustainability transitions draws from existing scholarship on food justice,vertical grow tables which is devoted to studying power and agency in food system, food system transformation, and distribution of harms and benefits of food system activities across various social groups and spatial scales .

Despite the urgency of efforts to promote sustainability transition within the food systems, and the observations related to farmers’ weak power position, there is very limited understanding about farmers’ capacities to transform . In this study, we examine the transformative capacities of farmers in a peripheral context to understand how they are positioned relative to the prospective sustainability transition. We operationalise farmers’ transformative capacities through the concept of resilience: by referring to resilience as persistence, adaptability, and transformability,we analyse the ‘fit’ of farms with the external system, characterised by rigidity and path-dependency on the one hand and mounting pressures for a disruptive transition on the other. The concept of resilience allows us to move beyond analysis of production lines or practices to be promoted or debilitated and analyse the position of farms as parts of the food system: whether and under which conditions peripheral farms can participate in the main function of food systems—food production. We discuss our findings in the context of just transition, which addresses social inequalities and tensions related to transition processes along the dimensions of distributive, procedural, recognitive, cosmopolitan and restorative justice . While the uneven consequences of transition processes are usually analysed in terms of distributive justice , we argue that the concept of restorative justice offers a theoretically unelaborated but promising pathway to understand the ways forward from the detected inequalities: how to compensate or restore the actors’ positions shaken by the transition processes . In particular, we elaborate on the recently developed proactive elements of restorative justice and argue that restoration should go beyond only reacting and compensating for harm created but also promoting the actors’ resilience in transition processes. Our empirical context is Finland, particularly its eastern, peripheral regions, where the livelihoods of many farmers and, partly, regional economies are dependent on cattle production. This is due to the region’s climatic conditions and soil properties being particularly suited for grass production, whereas crop cultivation suffers from profitability problems or from a short growing season . Furthermore, crop production does not offer possibilities for full-time employment in peripheral areas, which also lack the abundant job markets of economically prosperous regions . We base our findings on representative survey data retrieved from farmers in eastern Finland in 2018 . Social systems, such as food systems, may accommodate several stability domains. These stability domains are analogous with regimes as temporally stable configurations of a social-ecological or socio-technical system.We understand regimes as dynamically stable configurations of social systems prevailing over specific time frames. Sustainability transitions can thus be conceptualised as regime shifts or moves into new stability domains. These systemic transformations affect the subsystems residing within larger-scale systems, such as farms as parts of food systems.