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

Risk aversion, impatience, and adoption of conservation agriculture practices among smallholders in Zambia

Hambulo Ngoma João Vasco Silva Frédéric Baudron Isaiah Nyagumbo Christian Thierfelder (2024, [Artículo])

Sustainable agricultural practices such as conservation agriculture have been promoted in southern Africa for nearly three decades, but their adoption remains low. It is of policy interest to unpack behavioural drivers of adoption to understand why adoption remains lower than anticipated. This paper assesses the effects of risk aversion and impatience on the extent and intensity of the adoption of conservation agriculture using panel data collected from 646 households in 2021 and 2022 in Zambia. We find that 12% and 18% of the smallholders were impatient and risk averse, respectively. There are two main empirical findings based on panel data Probit and Tobit models. First, on the extensive margin, being impatient is correlated with a decreased likelihood of adopting combined minimum-tillage (MT) and rotation by 2.9 percentage points and being risk averse is associated with a decreased propensity of adopting combined minimum tillage (MT) and mulching by 3.2 percentage points. Being risk averse is correlated with a decreased chance of adopting basins by 2.8 percentage points. Second, on the intensive margin, impatience and risk aversion are significantly correlated with reduced adoption intensity of basins, ripping, minimum tillage (MT), and combined MT and rotation by 0.02–0.22 ha. These findings imply a need to embed risk management (e.g., through crop yield insurance) in the scaling of sustainable agricultural practices to incentivise adoption. This can help to nudge initial adoption and to protect farmers from yield penalties that are common in experimentation stages.

Risk and Time Preferences CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION RISK SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION SMALLHOLDERS

Carbon credits from agriculture

A G ADEETH CARIAPPA (2023, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CARBON AGRICULTURE CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION POLICIES

Climate-smart agricultural practices influence the fungal communities and soil properties under major agri-food systems

madhu choudhary ML JAT Parbodh Chander Sharma (2022, [Artículo])

Fungal communities in agricultural soils are assumed to be affected by climate, weather, and anthropogenic activities, and magnitude of their effect depends on the agricultural activities. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the impact of the portfolio of management practices on fungal communities and soil physical–chemical properties. The study comprised different climate-smart agriculture (CSA)-based management scenarios (Sc) established on the principles of conservation agriculture (CA), namely, ScI is conventional tillage-based rice–wheat rotation, ScII is partial CA-based rice–wheat–mungbean, ScIII is partial CSA-based rice–wheat–mungbean, ScIV is partial CSA-based maize–wheat–mungbean, and ScV and ScVI are CSA-based scenarios and similar to ScIII and ScIV, respectively, except for fertigation method. All the scenarios were flood irrigated except the ScV and ScVI where water and nitrogen were given through subsurface drip irrigation. Soils of these scenarios were collected from 0 to 15 cm depth and analyzed by Illumina paired-end sequencing of Internal Transcribed Spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) for the study of fungal community composition. Analysis of 5 million processed sequences showed a higher Shannon diversity index of 1.47 times and a Simpson index of 1.12 times in maize-based CSA scenarios (ScIV and ScVI) compared with rice-based CSA scenarios (ScIII and ScV). Seven phyla were present in all the scenarios, where Ascomycota was the most abundant phyla and it was followed by Basidiomycota and Zygomycota. Ascomycota was found more abundant in rice-based CSA scenarios as compared to maize-based CSA scenarios. Soil organic carbon and nitrogen were found to be 1.62 and 1.25 times higher in CSA scenarios compared with other scenarios. Bulk density was found highest in farmers' practice (Sc1); however, mean weight diameter and water-stable aggregates were found lowest in ScI. Soil physical, chemical, and biological properties were found better under CSA-based practices, which also increased the wheat grain yield by 12.5% and system yield by 18.8%. These results indicate that bundling/layering of smart agricultural practices over farmers' practices has tremendous effects on soil properties, and hence play an important role in sustaining soil quality/health.

Agriculture Management Fungal Community Diversity Indices Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA AGRICULTURE TILLAGE CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE SOIL ORGANIC CARBON

Farmers’ perspectives as determinants for adoption of conservation agriculture practices in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Ajay Kumar Mishra ML JAT (2022, [Artículo])

Understanding the farmer's perspective has traditionally been critical to influencing the adoption and out-scaling of CA-based climate-resilient practices. The objective of this study was to investigate the biophysical, socio-economic, and technical constraints in the adoption of CA by farmers in the Western- and Eastern-IGP, i.e., Karnal, Haryana, and Samastipur, Bihar, respectively. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to 50 households practicing CA in Western- and Eastern-IGP. Smallholder farmers (<2 ha of landholding) in Karnal are 10% and Samastipur 66%. About 46% and 8% of households test soil periodically in Karnal and Samastipur, respectively. Results of PCA suggest economic profitability and soil health as core components from the farmer's motivational perspective in Karnal and Samastipur, respectively. Promotion and scaling up of CA technologies should be targeted per site-specific requirements, emphasizing biophysical resource availability, socio-economic constraints, and future impacts of such technology.

Smallholder Farmers Agents of Change Technology Diffusion Climate-Smart Practices CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SMALLHOLDERS SOCIAL STRUCTURE IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE

Energy and economic efficiency of climate-smart agriculture practices in a rice–wheat cropping system of India

Manish Kakraliya Deepak Bijarniya Parbodh Chander Sharma ML JAT (2022, [Artículo])

Intensive Tillage Conventional Rice–Wheat Systems Energy Efficiency On-Farm Studies Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE RICE WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEMS

Vida de un muerto. Entre nuestro universo y el otro

Nicolás Amoroso Boelcke (2023, [Capítulo de libro])

Capítulo número 3 de la Sección Imágenes y representaciones.

Se analiza el film Raymond & Ray, desde la construcción de la vida de Harris, personaje muerto desde el principio del film, y esto se hace mediante las palabras, no con escenas de la infancia que mencionan Raymond y Ray ni tampoco en las acciones que participa con los otros perso¬najes que hablan de él. Harris habita el filme desde las palabras.

Semiotics and motion pictures. Culture--Semiotic models. Dialogue analysis. Semiótica y cine. Análisis del diálogo. NX180.S46 HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA CONDUCTA CIENCIAS DE LAS ARTES Y LAS LETRAS TEORÍA, ANÁLISIS Y CRÍTICA DE LAS BELLAS ARTES CINEMATOGRAFÍA

Géneros y afectos en la espacialidad universitaria: perspectivas para el diseño de campus futuros

Griselda Flesler Carolina Spataro RAFAEL BLANCO (2023, [Capítulo de libro])

Este trabajo analiza el impacto en el espacio universitario de las políticas de género implementadas en el ámbito de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA, Argentina) entre los años 2015 y 2020. Se trata de un estudio de caso realizado en el ámbito de la Ciudad Universitaria, campus en el que se emplazan las facultades de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (FCEyN) y de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (FADU). El propósito de este artículo es problematizar la relación entre afecto y espacialidad a partir de los resultados de una encuesta que se propuso identificar cuáles son las emociones que suscitan algunos espacios cotidianos para quienes trabajan y estudian en el campus de la UBA, en particular, aquellos intervenidos con políticas de género durante los últimos años.

This paper analyzes the impact on spaciality of gender policies implemented at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA, Argentina) between 2015 and 2020. It is a case study carried out in the campus where the Faculties of Exact and Natural Sciences (FCEyN) and Architecture, Design and Urbanism (FADU) are located. The purpose of this article is to problematize the relationship between affective perception and spatiality based on the results of a survey that aimed to identify the emotions that some daily spaces arouse for those who work and study on the UBA Campus, in particular, those intervened with gender policies in recent years.

Universidad, espacio, género, giro afectivo. University, space, gender, affective turn. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Gender mainstreaming. Community and college. Incorporación de la perspectiva de género. Universidades. Comunidad y universidad. LC191.98.A74 HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA CONDUCTA PEDAGOGÍA ORGANIZACIÓN Y PLANIFICACIÓN DE LA EDUCACIÓN

Bundling subsurface drip irrigation with no-till provides a window to integrate mung bean with intensive cereal systems for improving resource use efficiency

Manish Kakraliya madhu choudhary Mahesh Gathala Parbodh Chander Sharma ML JAT (2024, [Artículo])

The future of South Asia’s major production system (rice–wheat rotation) is at stake due to continuously aggravating pressure on groundwater aquifers and other natural resources which will further intensify with climate change. Traditional practices, conventional tillage (CT) residue burning, and indiscriminate use of groundwater with flood irrigation are the major drivers of the non-sustainability of rice–wheat (RW) system in northwest (NW) India. For designing sustainable practices in intensive cereal systems, we conducted a study on bundled practices (zero tillage, residue mulch, precise irrigation, and mung bean integration) based on multi-indicator (system productivity, profitability, and efficiency of water, nitrogen, and energy) analysis in RW system. The study showed that bundling conservation agriculture (CA) practices with subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) saved ~70 and 45% (3-year mean) of irrigation water in rice and wheat, respectively, compared to farmers’ practice/CT practice (pooled data of Sc1 and Sc2; 1,035 and 318 mm ha−1). On a 3-year system basis, CA with SDI scenarios (mean of Sc5–Sc8) saved 35.4% irrigation water under RW systems compared to their respective CA with flood irrigation (FI) scenarios (mean of Sc3 and Sc4) during the investigation irrespective of residue management. CA with FI system increased the water productivity (WPi) and its use efficiency (WUE) by ~52 and 12.3% (3-year mean), whereas SDI improved by 221.2 and 39.2% compared to farmers practice (Sc1; 0.69 kg grain m−3 and 21.39 kg grain ha−1 cm−1), respectively. Based on the 3-year mean, CA with SDI (mean of Sc5–Sc8) recorded −2.5% rice yield, whereas wheat yield was +25% compared to farmers practice (Sc1; 5.44 and 3.79 Mg ha−1) and rice and wheat yield under CA with flood irrigation were increased by +7 and + 11%, compared to their respective CT practices. Mung bean integration in Sc7 and Sc8 contributed to ~26% in crop productivity and profitability compared to farmers’ practice (Sc1) as SDI facilitated advancing the sowing time by 1 week. On a system basis, CA with SDI improved energy use efficiency (EUE) by ~70% and partial factor productivity of N by 18.4% compared to CT practices. In the RW system of NW India, CA with SDI for precise water and N management proved to be a profitable solution to address the problems of groundwater, residue burning, sustainable intensification, and input (water and energy) use with the potential for replication in large areas in NW India.

Direct Seeded Rice Subsurface Drip Irrigation Economic Profitability Energy and Nitrogen Efficiency CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE RICE SUBSURFACE IRRIGATION IRRIGATION SYSTEMS WATER PRODUCTIVITY ECONOMIC VIABILITY ENERGY EFFICIENCY NITROGEN-USE EFFICIENCY

Diseño y activismo artístico

Olivia Fragoso-Susunaga (2023, [Capítulo de libro])

En el 2015, las Naciones Unidas proponen una serie de objetivos dirigidos a convocar a los habitantes del mundo a realizar acciones orientadas a acabar con la pobreza, mejorar las condiciones del planeta y lograr que, para el 2030, todas las personas puedan gozar de paz y bienestar. A estos objetivos se les conoce como los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS). La educación superior juega un papel fundamental en el logro de los ODS. La UAM y, en el caso que nos compete, el CyAD están llamados a colaborar en esta tarea que nos involucra a todos y todas quienes formamos la comunidad universitaria. Este trabajo es una reflexión sobre la importancia que tiene la formación en activismo artístico en la educación del diseño para el logro de los ODS. Se propone que enfatizar el vínculo entre el diseño y el activismo artístico es parte de un escenario futuro indiscutiblemente necesario en el currículo de licenciatura en el CyAD.

In 2015, the United Nations proposed a series of goals aimed at calling on the world’s inhabitants to take action to end poverty, improve the conditions of the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people can enjoy peace and well-being. These goals are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Higher education plays a fundamental role in the achievement of the SDGs, the UAM and, in the case that concerns us, the CyAD are called to collaborate in this task that involves all of us who form the university community. This work is a reflection on the importance of training in artistic activism in design education for the achievement of the SDGs. It is proposed that emphasizing the link between design and art activism is part of an indisputably necessary future scenario in the undergraduate curriculum at CyAD.

Activismo artístico, educación del diseño, cultura. Artistic activism, design education, culture. Sustainable Development Goals. Art and social action. Education, Higher--Social aspects. Educational change. Artists--Political activity. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Unidad Azcapotzalco. División de Ciencias y Artes para el Diseño. Desarrollo sustentable. Participación social. Cambio educativo. NX180.P64 HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA CONDUCTA CIENCIAS DE LAS ARTES Y LAS LETRAS