Do provisioning ecosystem services change along gradients of increasing agricultural production?

Ronju Ahammad Stephanie Tomscha Sarah Gergel Frédéric Baudron Jean-Yves Duriaux Chavarría Samson Foli Dominic Rowland Josh Van Vianen Terence Sunderland (2024, [Artículo])

Context: Increasing agricultural production shapes the flow of ecosystem services (ES), including provisioning services that support the livelihoods and nutrition of people in tropical developing countries. Although our broad understanding of the social-ecological consequences of agricultural intensification is growing, how it impacts provisioning ES is still unknown. Objectives: We examined the household use of provisioning ES across a gradient of increasing agricultural production in seven tropical countries (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Zambia). We answered two overarching questions: (1) does the use of provisioning ES differ along gradients of agriculture production ranging from zones of subsistence to moderate and to high agriculture production? and (2) are there synergies and/or trade-offs within and among groups of ES within these zones? Methods: Using structured surveys, we asked 1900 households about their assets, livestock, crops, and collection of forest products. These questions allowed us to assess the number of provisioning ES households used, and whether the ES used are functionally substitutable (i.e., used similarly for nutrition, material, and energy). Finally, we explored synergies and trade-offs among household use of provisioning ES. Results: As agricultural production increased, provisioning ES declined both in total number and in different functional groups used. We found more severe decreases in ES for relatively poorer households. Within the functional groups of ES, synergistic relationships were more often found than trade-offs in all zones, including significant synergies among livestock products (dairy, eggs, meat) and fruits. Conclusions: Considering landscape context provides opportunities to enhance synergies among provisioning services for households, supporting resilient food systems and human well-being.

Agricultural Production Zones Agricultural Intensifcation Synergies and Trade-Offs Landscape Multifunctionality Social-Ecological Systems CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA AGRICULTURE INTENSIFICATION ECOSYSTEM SERVICES LANDSCAPE SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL RESILIENCE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Modular ontology to support manufacturing SMEs toward industry 4.0

ZAIDA ANTONIETA MORA ALVAREZ OSCAR HERNANDEZ URIBE RAMON ALBERTO LUQUE MORALES LEONOR ADRIANA CARDENAS ROBLEDO (2023, [Artículo])

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) implementation is a hot topic among manufacturing organizations to reach smart factory status and integrate a fully connected ecosystem. Achieving such a transition presents notable challenges for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since they often face resource and skilled personnel limitations. This study developed a domain ontology to represent various stages of maturity toward I4.0 implementation. Ontology provides a tool for SMEs to self-assess in situations of machines, processes, and factories for the dimensions of control, integration, and intelligence. This study focused on the identification of classes and relationships according to I4.0 implementation situations in the context of a manufacturing setting, the reuse of ontologies related to the domain of observations to model situations, and the creation and validation of the ontology through the information obtained from the questionnaires applied to SMEs. Finally, the ontology delivers a tool to understand SMEs' current state concerning I4.0 implementation and plan based on informed decisions about the maturity state and the technology required to advance to the next stage in their manufacturing processes.

This study was partially supported by the grants CONAHCYT-CIATEQ CVU 899567 and 162867 and CONAHCYT SNI.

We express our gratitude to Teresa Novales Hernandez for the library support.

Domain ontology Industry 4.0 SMEs Smart factory SPARQL Semantic web INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS OTRAS ESPECIALIDADES TECNOLÓGICAS OTRAS OTRAS

Manicaland inception meeting: Feed the future mechanization and extension a ctivity (October 2022 to September 2024)

Md Abdul Matin (2023, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SMALLHOLDERS ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Pathways from information to the adoption of conservation agriculture practices in Malawi and Tanzania

Paswel Marenya Dil Bahadur Rahut (2023, [Artículo])

To reduce agriculture's carbon, land and water footprint, the diffusion of conservation farming methods is one commonly cited proposition. Yet the process of translating available information on new conservation farming methods into farmers' practices is often a black box in many studies. This understanding is critical to inform strategies for scaling these complex, knowledge-intensive, but necessary practices for improving agriculture's resource and climate balance sheet. By implementing a series of mediation analysis using data from 700 households in Malawi and 930 households in Tanzania, this study examines how an improved understanding of conservation agriculture (CA) principles is an important mediator in the pathway from extension contact to the adoption of two of the CA practices examined. For the adoption of conservation tillage, the share of the mediated treatment effect was in the 31.5–34.4% range, while it was 31.6–46.9% for the adoption of soil cover (mulching). Our results suggest that unless learning from external sources strongly correlates with improved farmers' technical understanding of new farming practices, private learning by doing must be a critical adjunct to other avenues of learning. Beyond the basic promotional goals, improving farmers' technical know-how needs to be the centerpiece of holistic efforts in support of conservation farming and similar knowledge-intensive practices necessary for agriculture's sustinability goals.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SMALLHOLDERS AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES FIELD EXPERIMENTATION

Perfil epidemiológico y características clínicas de la escleritis en una población del noreste de México

YOLANDA MACIAS RODRIGUEZ (2022, [Artículo])

La epiescleritis (ESC) y escleritis (SC) son enfermedades que se caracterizan por causar inflamación de la capa externa fibrosa del globo ocular, la esclera y epiesclera. Estos padecimientos fueron descritos desde el siglo XIX y el Dr. Watson proporcionó la clasificación clínica que se usa para ordenarlas en sus diferentes subtipos. La etiología de las ESC y SC puede ser idiopática o asociada a causas específicas, como enfermedades autoinmunes, traumatismos, cirugías o infecciones. En diversas poblaciones del mundo se han reportado previamente las características de las ESC y SC. Sin embargo, en la población mexicana solo existen reportes de casos de presentaciones inusuales de ESC y SC y una sola serie reportando las características de la SC. Por lo anterior, se decidió llevar a cabo el presente estudio para expandir el conocimiento acerca de las características de la ESC y SC en la población mexicana. Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo y observacional. El diseño metodológico corresponde a una serie de casos. Se incluyeron pacientes con diagnóstico de ESC y SC, que hubieran firmado el consentimiento informado para participación en investigación clínica. Se analizaron los expedientes físicos y electrónicos de los pacientes que cumplieran con los criterios de inclusión, se tomó la información correspondiente a las variables previamente establecidas y se vació en una hoja de Microsoft Excel y posteriormente se analizaron estadísticamente con el programa SPSS (IBM). Se encontraron y analizaron 55 casos de ESC y 130 casos de SC. En ambos grupos hubo una predominancia del sexo femenino y la edad media fue mayor en pacientes con SC que en ESC (52.26 vs. 44.78 años). El tipo más común de ESC fue la simple y en SC la anterior difusa. La SC posterior fue el subtipo menos frecuente. La etiología más frecuente en ESC y SC fue la idiopática, y la segunda en frecuencia fue la espondiloartropatía asociada al haplotipo HLA B27 y la artritis reumatoide respectivamente. Los motivos de consulta más frecuente fueron ojo rojo solamente y ojo rojo doloroso. Los síntomas más comúnmente descritos por los pacientes con ESC y SC fueron ojo rojo, sensación de cuerpo extraño, dolor, lagrimeo y visión borrosa. Asimismo, los datos clínicos más comúnmente encontrados en pacientes con ESC y SC fueron la ingurgitción de los plexos conjuntivales y epiesclerales, queratopatía punteada superficial y queratitis ulcerativa periférica. La agudeza visual promedio fue buena tanto en ESC como en SC, siendo de 20/25 y 20/30 respectivamente. Para el análisis de tratamiento y recurrencias, se consideraron a los pacientes con un seguimiento mayor a una consulta, consistiendo estos últimos en 35 ESC y 108 SC. En la ESC, 91.4% de los pacientes fueron tratados con un AINE oral, 57.1% con esteroide tópico y 5.7% con AINE tópico. En SC, 76.9% usaron un AINE oral, 62% un esteroide oral, 50% un esteroide tópico y 52.7% un agente imnunosupresor. 29.6% de los pacientes con SC tuvieron una recurrencia. Al comparar la presente serie con las series de ESC y SC reportadas previamente en la literatura se encontró una considerable cantidad de similitudes, como la predominancia del sexo femenino, la media de edad, la incidencia estimada, los síntomas y signos, el tratamiento empleado y la cantidad de recurrencias y su asociación a una edad menor. Debido a todos lo anterior, se concluyó que la presentación de las ESC y SC en la población mexicana es similar a la presentación en otras poblaciones del mundo, previamente reportadas.

Especialidad en Oftalmología

MEDICINA Y CIENCIAS DE LA SALUD CIENCIAS MÉDICAS CIENCIAS CLÍNICAS OFTALMOLOGÍA

Value chain research and development: The quest for impact

Jason Donovan (2023, [Artículo])

Motivation: For decades, governments, donors, and practitioners have promoted market-based development approaches (MBDA), most recently in the form of value chain development (VCD), to spur economic growth and reduce poverty. Changes in approaches have been shaped by funders, practitioners and researchers in ways that are incompletely appreciated. Purpose: We address the following questions: (1) how have researchers and practitioners shaped discussions on MBDA?; and (2) how has research stimulated practice, and how has practice informed research? We hypothesize that stronger exchange between researchers and practitioners increases the relevance and impact of value chain research and development. Methods and approach: We adopt Downs' (1972) concept of issue-attention cycles, which posits that attention to a particular issue follows a pattern where, first, excitement builds over potential solutions; followed by disenchantment as the inherent complexity, trade-offs, and resources required to solve it become apparent; and consequently attention moves on to a new issue. We review the literature on MBDA to see how far this framing applies. Findings: We identify five cycles of approaches to market-based development over the last 40 or more years: (1) non-traditional agricultural exports; (2) small and medium enterprise development; (3) value chains with a globalization perspective; (4) value chains with an agri-business perspective; and (5) value chain development. The shaping and sequencing of these cycles reflect researchers' tendency to analyse and criticize MBDA, while providing limited guidance on workable improvements; practitioners' reluctance to engage in critical reflection on their programmes; and an institutional and funding environment that encourages new approaches. Policy implications: Future MBDA will benefit from stronger engagement between researchers, practitioners, and funders. Before shifting attention to new concepts and approaches, achievements and failures in previous cycles need to be scrutinized. Evidence-based practice should extend for the length of the issue-attention cycle; preferably it should arrest the cycling of attention. Funders can help by requiring grantees to critically reflect on past action, by providing “safe spaces” for sharing such reflections, and by engaging in joint learning with practitioners and researchers.

Agri-Food Value Chains Issue-Attention Cycles Market-Based Development Approaches CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA VALUE CHAINS PRIVATE SECTOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT SMALLHOLDERS

Mapping crop and livestock value chain actors in Mbire and Murehwa districts in Zimbabwe

Hambulo Ngoma Moti Jaleta Frédéric Baudron (2023, [Documento de trabajo])

We conducted a preliminary value chain actors mapping for major crops grown and livestock kept by smallholder farmers in Mbire and Murehwa districts of Zimbabwe. Accordingly, in this report we mapped value chain actors for 11 crops and livestock commodities: namely, sorghum, cotton, sesame, maize, groundnut, sweet-potato, vegetables (tomato and onion), cattle, goats, poultry, and honey/beekeeping. Except sesame from Mbire, most of the crop and livestock commodities are channeled to the main markets in Harare and Marondera for Murehwa. Sesame is smuggled to Mozambique and the market is mainly dependent on middlemen. The Grain Market Board (GMB) is the major actor in sorghum and maize marketing in both districts. Groundnut is sold to both rural and urban consumers after processing it to peanut butter locally within the production zones. Goats and cattle are mostly supplied to the Harare market by middlemen collecting these livestock from village markets and moving door-to-door to buy enough quantity to transport to Harare. Honey production and marketing is still at its initial stage through the support of HELP from Germany and the Zimbabwe Apiculture Trust projects. Long dry season is a challenge in honey production. The Pfumvudza program supported by the Presidential free input scheme helped in introducing and scaling conservation agriculture practices in Zimbabwe. Though there is strong integration of crop-livestock systems at both districts, the level of manure use is gradually decreasing because farmers receive chemical fertilizer support from the Pfumvudza program and applying manure to crop fields is labor-intensive. The input supply system is more competitive in Murehwa district where there are quite several input suppliers in town. The possible interventions that favor agroecological transitions are: (1) honey processing plants and supply of beehives to potential areas, (2) encouraging manure use in crop production, possibly linking it to the basins preparation requirement to be eligible for the presidential input subsidy scheme, (3) support the organic vegetable production initiatives and explore market segments in Harare paying premium prices for certified organic products, (4) Expedite payment systems in sorghum and maize marketing with GMB, and (5) sesame production with agroecologically friendly agronomy and improve markets.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA VALUE CHAINS CROPS LIVESTOCK SMALLHOLDERS SUPPLY CHAINS

Using Sentinel-2 to track field-level tillage practices at regional scales in smallholder systems

Preeti Rao ML JAT Balwinder-Singh Deepak Bijarniya Urs Schulthess Rajbir Singh Meha Jain (2021, [Artículo])

Sentinel-2 Random Forest Google Earth Engine CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SATELLITES ZERO TILLAGE CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE SMALLHOLDERS

Hot Extremes and Climatological Drought Indicators in the Transitional Semiarid-Subtropical Region of Sinaloa, Northwest Mexico

OMAR LLANES CARDENAS OSCAR GERARDO GUTIERREZ RUACHO Iván Hernández Romano ENRIQUE TROYO DIEGUEZ (2022, [Artículo])

"The main goal of this study was to explore the historical and recent spatial concurrence between the frequency (F), duration (D) and intensity (I) of hot extremes (HEs) and the frequency and evolution of meteorological drought in the region of Sinaloa. Based on the values of daily maximum temperatura (Tmax) and precipitation obtained from CLImate COMputing for the interval April–October of a historical period (1963–2000) and a recent period (1982–2014), the HE and the standardized precipitation index (SPI) were calculated on one-month (SPI-1) and four-month (SPI-4) timescales. Spearman rank correlation coefficients (Sr) were used to obtain the significant concurrences (SCs) between HEs and SPI-1, and HEs and SPI-4. El Quelite weather station showed the highest historical SCs between HEs and SPI-1 (−0.66≤Sr≤−0.57). Jaina is the only station that showed SCs with all four indicators of HEs and SPI-4 (−0.47≤Sr≤−0.34). In this study, the concurrence between HEs and SPI-1, and HEs and SPI-4 was determined for the first time. These are phenomena that can decrease the crop yield, particularly for rainfed crops such as maize, sesame and sorghum in the region commonly known as “the breadbasket of Mexico."

frequency and evolution of meteorological droughts, the breadbasket of Mexico, Sinaloa CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO CLIMATOLOGÍA CLIMATOLOGÍA REGIONAL CLIMATOLOGÍA REGIONAL

Using microsatellite data to estimate the persistence of field-level yield gaps and their drivers in smallholder systems

Balwinder-Singh Meha Jain (2023, [Artículo])

One way to meet growing food demand is to increase yields in regions that have large yield gaps, including smallholder systems. To do this, it is important to quantify yield gaps, their persistence, and their drivers at large spatio-temporal scales. Here we use microsatellite data to map field-level yields from 2014 to 2018 in Bihar, India and use these data to assess the magnitude, persistence, and drivers of yield gaps at the landscape scale. We find that overall yield gaps are large (33% of mean yields), but only 17% of yields are persistent across time. We find that sowing date, plot area, and weather are the factors that most explain variation in yield gaps across our study region, with earlier sowing associated with significantly higher yield values. Simulations suggest that if all farmers were able to adopt ideal management strategies, including earlier sowing and more irrigation use, yield gaps could be closed by up to 42%. These results highlight the ability of micro-satellite data to understand yield gaps and their drivers, and can be used to help identify ways to increase production in smallholder systems across the globe.

Yield Drivers Yield Mapping CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MICROSATELLITES YIELD GAP SMALLHOLDERS FOOD PRODUCTION YIELD INCREASES