Distance learning for farmers: Experience during the pandemic

Andrea Gardeazabal (2023, [Documento de trabajo])

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic's disruption of farmer training—a crucial component for enhancing the resilience and livelihoods of smallholder farmers—CIMMYT innovated educational solutions to sustain capacity building in agri-food systems. Addressing the challenges of limited mobile device access, poor internet connectivity, and digital illiteracy, CIMMYT implemented two pilot projects in Mexico. These projects facilitated distance learning for adult farmers in rural areas, employing both internet-based and non-internet methods. The non-internet approach utilized traditional media like print, while the internet-based approach leveraged WhatsApp for educational content delivery. Building on these experiences, CIMMYT expanded its offerings by creating micro -courses delivered through WhatsApp, hosted on the Co-LAB's new Learning Network platform, specifically targeting farmers. This paper delves into the various strategies, methods, and techniques adopted, documenting the learning outcomes, results, and key conclusions drawn from these innovative training initiatives.

Distance Learning Digital Inclusion Innovative Training CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA DISTANCE EDUCATION CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT METHODS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Servicios digitales públicos: el IMPI y la emisión de títulos de patente que realiza

Pamela Serrano Magaña (2023, [Otro, Trabajo de grado, maestría])

Las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) han logrado acercar a la población a contenidos y formas de intercambio de información que anteriormente no eran posibles; el Internet ha derrumbado fronteras entre las sociedades, los gobiernos, el conocimiento y las oportunidades, creando a su vez nuevas necesidades para caer en el círculo virtuoso de la innovación.

Este artículo plantea una transformación integral en una etapa digital específica dentro de los procesos internos del IMPI, desde el expediente físico hacia el expediente digital para automatizar los procesos de emisión de títulos de concesión de patentes de invención lo que resultaría en una reducción del índice de errores humanos involuntarios, así como la mejora en la atención a los usuarios, al ofrecer mayor certeza en los servicios proporcionados y mayor seguridad en el tratamiento de su información, así como un apego a las normas jurídicas aplicables. El objetivo de esta implementación es reducir el índice de equivocaciones en la documentación oficial emitida disminuyendo en consecuencia, los retrasos y las incidencias fortuitas, y para dicho fin se proponen dos soluciones. La primera, el desarrollar un nuevo módulo dentro del sistema principal existente, que permitirá exportar los datos y generar el título directamente en el formato requerido. La segunda, es la utilización de tecnología de automatización robótica de procesos o RPA por sus siglas en inglés (Robotic Process Automation) para hacer uso de una herramienta que sustituya a la transcripción manual por una transcripción automática.

Digitalización Servicios digitales Gobierno electrónico Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS

Sustainability evaluation of contrasting milpa systems in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Santiago Lopez-Ridaura Tania Carolina Camacho Villa (2023, [Artículo])

The milpa agroecosystem is an intercropping of maize, beans, squash and other crops, developed in Mesoamerica, and its adoption is widely variable across climates and regions. An example of particular interest is the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, which holds highly diverse milpas, drawing on ancestral Mayan knowledge. Traditional milpas have been described as sustainable resource management models, based on long rotations within a slash-and-burn cycle in forest areas. Nevertheless, due to modernization and intensification processes, new variants of the approach have appeared. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sustainability of three milpa systems (traditional, continuous, and mechanized) in four case studies across the Peninsula, with emphasis on food self-sufficiency, social inclusion and adoption of innovations promoted by a development project. The Framework for the Evaluation of Agroecosystems using Indicators (MESMIS, for its Spanish acronym) was used for its flexible, participatory approach. A common group of indicators was developed despite regional differences between study cases, with a high level of farmer participation throughout the iterative process. The results show lower crop yields in traditional systems, but with lower inputs costs and pesticide use. In contrast, continuous milpas had higher value in terms of crop diversity, food security, social inclusion, and innovation adoption. Mechanized milpas had lower weed control costs. Profitability of cash crops and the proportion of forest were high in all systems. Highly adopted innovations across milpa types and study cases included spatial crop arrangement and the use of residues as mulches. However, most innovations are not adapted to local conditions, and do not address climate change. Further, women and youth participation is low, especially in traditional systems.

Milpa Intensification Processes Women and Youth Participation CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SUSTAINABILITY INTERCROPPING FOOD SECURITY INNOVATION SOCIAL INCLUSION AGROECOSYSTEMS CASE STUDIES

Closing the yield gap of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merril) in Southern Africa: a case of Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique

Siyabusa Mkuhlani Isaiah Nyagumbo (2023, [Artículo])

Introduction: Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are increasingly producing soybean for food, feed, cash, and soil fertility improvement. Yet, the difference between the smallholder farmers’ yield and either the attainable in research fields or the potential from crop models is wide. Reasons for the yield gap include low to nonapplication of appropriate fertilizers and inoculants, late planting, low plant populations, recycling seeds, etc. Methods: Here, we reviewed the literature on the yield gap and the technologies for narrowing it and modelled yields through the right sowing dates and suitable high-yielding varieties in APSIM. Results and Discussion: Results highlighted that between 2010 and 2020 in SSA, soybean production increased; however, it was through an expansion in the cropped area rather than a yield increase per hectare. Also, the actual smallholder farmers’ yield was 3.8, 2.2, and 2.3 times lower than the attainable yield in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique, respectively. Through inoculants, soybean yield increased by 23.8%. Coupling this with either 40 kg ha−1 of P or 60 kg ha−1 of K boosted the yields by 89.1% and 26.0%, respectively. Overall, application of 21–30 kg ha-1 of P to soybean in SSA could increase yields by about 48.2%. Furthermore, sowing at the right time increased soybean yield by 300%. Although these technologies enhance soybean yields, they are not fully embraced by smallholder farmers. Hence, refining and bundling them in a digital advisory tool will enhance the availability of the correct information to smallholder farmers at the right time and improve soybean yields per unit area.

Decision Support Tools Digital Tools Site-Specific Recommendations CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS LEGUMES YIELDS SOYBEANS

SENTIDOS ASOCIADOS AL USO DE LAS CRIPTOMONEDAS EN LA CDMX: UNA EXPLORACIÓN DESDE LA ANTROPOLOGÍA SEMIÓTICA

Triana Carrillo Aguilar (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

“El dinero suele definirse como un medio de intercambio socialmente aceptado que facilita las transacciones. Aunque estos elementos cumplen con el orden explicativo del signo, el dinero y su uso es portador de diferentes sentidos. En 1914 Marcel Mauss se dio a la tarea de buscar las formas más primitivas y simples en las que se hubiera representado la noción de moneda o dinero en las distintas sociedades, identificando objetos como la sal o los metales preciosos, pasando por representaciones materiales de diversa índole. Actualmente, el dinero y la moneda han cambiado de forma, algunas tan complejas y abstractas como el dinero electrónico o las criptomonedas. Partiendo de la premisa de Mauss (1914), ¿podríamos pensar que estamos hablando de nociones más elevadas de la representación del dinero gracias a lo complejo de su tecnología? ¿Qué ha cambiado? A las criptomonedas no las podemos ver, ni tocar, ni sentir, ni oler (a diferencia del papel moneda), no obstante, significan. Esta investigación aborda el tema del dinero, la moneda y las criptomonedas, específicamente se enfoca en el uso y percepción delas criptomonedas en la Ciudad de México, de acuerdo con las experiencias de integrantes de las comunidades que se han formado a partir del uso, o la búsqueda de orientación y aprendizaje colectivos, como una red de interlocutores. Por medio de su producción discursiva colectiva e individual, examino cómo se ha ido generando y articulando una economía en torno al uso de las criptomonedas y a las prácticas asociadas a estas. El trabajo de campo, digital y convencional, realizado en la Ciudad de México entre abril y diciembre de 2022, me permitió describir y analizar etnográficamente a comunidades y usuarios individuales de criptomonedas, para explorar cuáles son los posibles sentidos generados por el uso de criptomonedas y qué factores intervienen en ello”.

Criptomoneda. Bitcoin. Inclusión financiera. Medios de pago. Inversión. Tesis - Maestría en Antropología Social, CDMX. CIENCIAS SOCIALES CIENCIAS ECONÓMICAS ACTIVIDAD ECONÓMICA DINERO Y OPERACIONES BANCARIAS DINERO Y OPERACIONES BANCARIAS

Maize seed aid and seed systems development: Opportunities for synergies in Uganda

Jason Donovan Rachel Voss Pieter Rutsaert (2024, [Artículo])

In the name of food security, governments and NGOs purchase large volumes of maize seed in non-relief situations to provide at reduced or no cost to producers. At the same time, efforts to build formal maize seed systems have been frustrated by slow turnover rates – the dominance of older seed products in the market over newer, higher performing ones. Under certain conditions, governments and NGO seed aid purchases can support formal seed systems development in three ways: i) support increased producer awareness of new products, ii) support local private seed industry development, and iii) advance equity goals by targeting aid to the most vulnerable of producers who lack the capacity to purchase seeds. This study explores the objectives and activities of seed aid programmes in Uganda and their interactions with the maize seed sector. We draw insights from interviews with representatives of seed companies, NGOs and government agencies, as well as focus group discussions with producers. The findings indicated that seed aid programme objectives are largely disconnected from broader seed systems development goals. There is little evidence of public-private collaboration in design of these programmes. Better designed programs have the potential to align with varietal turnover objectives, commercial sector development and targeting of underserved markets could promote equity and ‘crowd in’ demand.

Seed Business Varietal Turnover Seed Aid CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SEED SEED SYSTEMS SOCIAL INCLUSION MAIZE

Radiative transfer model inversion using high-resolution hyperspectral airborne imagery – Retrieving maize LAI to access biomass and grain yield

Ahmed Kayad Francelino Rodrigues Marco Sozzi Francesco Pirotti Francesco Marinello Urs Schulthess Bruno Gerard Marie Weiss (2022, [Artículo])

PROSAIL Vegetation Indices Field Variability Digital Farming CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA PRECISION AGRICULTURE MAIZE GRAIN YIELD BIOMASS VEGETATION VEGETATION INDEX

The Scaling Scan: A practical tool to determine opportunities and challenges to sustainably scale innovations

Lennart Woltering (2023, [Libro])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA INNOVATION ADOPTION SOCIAL INCLUSION ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS SCALING UP

The Scaling Scan: Un outil pratique pour déterminer les opportunités et les défis liés à la mise à l’échelle soutenible des innovations

Lennart Woltering (2023, [Libro])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA INNOVATION ADOPTION SOCIAL INCLUSION ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS SCALING UP

The generation challenge programme platform: Semantic standards and workbench for crop science

Richard Bruskiewich Guy Davenport Mathieu Rouard Reinhard Simon Samart Wanchana Trushar Shah Victor Jun Ulat Andrew Farmer Pankaj Jaiswal Mark Wilkinson David Marshall Alyssa Collins (2008, [Artículo])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CROP IMPROVEMENT GENETIC RESOURCES PLANT BREEDING BIODIVERSITY COMPUTER APPLICATIONS DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY DATA PROCESSING