Enhancing the adaptive capacity of the resource users in natural resource management

The paper focuses on the role of learning tools in enhancing the capacity of resource users to innovate and manage their land in an adaptive manner. Based on experiences in Zimbabwe, core elements of a learning process approach to innovation in natural resource management using “learning tools” is described and analysed. The approach is centred around socio-organisational strengthening and farmer learning through experimentation and discovery, both integrated into a coherent intervention process design. High quality process facilitation led by strong vision, empathy and a ‘culture of inquiry’ is considered fundamental to unleash the potential of learning tools and process approaches. The experiences of the case study presented in the paper reveal that learning tools can only be highly effective if applied within a coherent learning process. Dissemination or scaling-up of this type of capacity building through learning tools therefore needs to focus on promoting of the process of learning rather than simply recommending certain tools or technologies which have been developed. This requires the development of facilitation skills of development agencies and farmer organisations.     

On farm testing of integrated nutrient management strategies in eastern Uganda

This paper reports on a Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR) process that was initiated in three villages in eastern Uganda in September 1999 to enable small-scale farmers to reverse nutrient depletion of their soils profitably by increasing their capacity to develop, adapt and use integrated natural resource management strategies. The PLAR process was also used to improve the participatory skills and tools of research and extension personnel to support this process. The farming systems of the area were characterised for socio-economic and biophysical conditions that included social organisations, wealth categories, gender, crop, soil, agro forestry and livestock production. Farmers identified soil fertility constraints, their indicators, and causes of soil fertility decline, and suggested strategies to address the problem of soil fertility decline. Soil fertility management diversity among households indicated that most farmers were not carrying out any improved soil fertility management practices, despite previous research and dissemination in the area. Following the diagnosis stage and exposure visits to other farmer groups working on integrated soil fertility projects, the farmers designed 11 experiments for on-farm testing. One hundred and twenty farmers then chose, for participatory technology development, sub-sets of these 11 experiments, based on the major agricultural constraints and the potential solutions identified and prioritised by the farmers. Quantitative and qualitative results from the testing, farmer evaluation and adaptation, training, dissemination strategies and socio-economic implications of these technologies are discussed.     

Evaluation of the water use efficiency of alternative farm practices at a range of spatial and temporal scales: A conceptual framework and a modelling approach

Water is the principal limiting resource in Australian broadacre farming, and the efficiency with which farmers use water to produce various products is a major determinant both of farm profit and of a range of natural resource management (NRM) outcomes. We propose a conceptual framework based on multiple water use efficiencies (WUEs) that can be used to gain insight into high-level comparisons of the productivity and sustainability of alternative farming practices across temporal and spatial scales. The framework is intended as a data aggregation and presentation device. It treats flows of water, biomass and money in a mixed farming system; economic inefficiencies in these flows are tracked as they are associated with a range of NRM indicators.We illustrate the use of the framework, and its place in a larger research programme, by employing it to synthesise the results from a set of modelling analyses of the effect of land use choices on long-term productivity and a range of NRM indicators (frequency of low ground cover, deep drainage, N leaching rates and rate of change in surface soil organic carbon). The analyses span scales from single paddocks and years to whole farms and have been carried out with the APSIM and GRAZPLAN biophysical simulation models and the MIDAS whole-farm economic model.In single wheat crops in one study, different land uses in preceding years affect grain yield primarily by affecting the harvest index. When the scale changes to cropping rotations, the critical factor affecting overall water use efficiency is found to be the proportion of stored soil water that is transpired by crops. When ordinated in terms of their water use efficiencies, a set of 45 modelled rotation sequences at another location are differentiated mainly by the proportion of pasture in the rotation; when rotations are ordinated using key NRM indicators, the proportion of lucerne pasture is the main distinguishing factor. Finally, we show that for whole crop-livestock farms at three different locations across southern Australia, the pattern of water use efficiencies in the most profitable farming systems changes in similar ways as cropping proportion is altered. At this scale, land use choices affect multiple water use efficiency indices simultaneously and commodity prices determine the balance of the resulting economic tradeoffs.Limitations to the use of the WUE framework arising from its relative simplicity are discussed, as are other areas of farming systems research and development to which it can be applied.     

免耕播种装备PDM系统影像资源管理研究

针对免耕播种装备产品数据管理（Product data management,PDM）系统的实验影像资源在存储和查询过程中内容甄别困难、用户获取相关资源需求难以保证的问题,在VS（Microsoft Visual Studio）环境下应用VB.NET语言搭载SQL Server数据库开发一种交互式资源管理系统,对实验影像资源内容进行多元信息标注并分配权重,应用ADO.NET（Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects.Net）技术实现影像资源多元信息的编辑和存储,基于多元信息权重创建推荐查询方法,联合浏览选择,实现影像资源的获取与应用。测试结果表明本系统可根据影像资源多元信息进行添加、删除、修改和查询,当输入字段与本地数据库无法精确匹配时可智能推荐数据,实现了对影像资源多元信息的有效管理。多元信息能够唯一准确标识影像资源并作为资源管理的依据,基于多元信息权重设计的推荐方法能够有效解决用户输入字段与本地数据表不完全匹配的问题。     

基于云计算技术的农业信息化管理平台设计

构建基于云计算技术的农业信息化管理平台,可以提高农业信息化管理水平,解决农业资源管理中的资源分配不均衡、共享程度低等问题。该管理平台由基础设施层、数据层、应用服务层、管理层和用户访问层构成。基础设施层通过主机服务器和虚拟机构建网络农业资源数据中心。数据层利用云计算技术集中管理基础设施层农业数据,并将其存储于数据库中。应用服务层的农业信息化管理端通过云计算技术实现数据库农业资源调度,并通过离散Kalman滤波算法实时更新处理农业数据。管理层通过农业权限、质量、安全等信息的管理全面协调平台管理的各个阶段,并可通过用户访问层为用户提供访问界面。测试结果表明:该平台数据采集、融合效果好,资源分配均匀合理,而且不同任务数量下均具备较好的负载均衡度,可实现较好的农业信息化管理。      

Modelling the regional and farm-level economic impacts of environmental flows for regulated rivers in NSW,Australia

The management of water resources across Australia is undergoing fundamental reforms aimed at improving the health of rivers, estuaries and groundwaters. The reforms include specification of property rights, the way the resource is shared between the environment, irrigators and other users, charges for water use and the operational management of the water systems. In New South Wales (NSW), a series of water sharing plans (WSPs) is being developed for each water source in the State including regulated rivers, unregulated rivers and groundwater aquifers. These plans, which are the mechanisms by which the reforms are being implemented, are being developed by community based water management committees (WMCs). The role of the WMCs is to develop a plan that achieves a balance between environmental, economic and social outcomes. NSW Agriculture has assisted a number of WMCs by quantifying the economic impact of proposed WSP options on the irrigation community. This paper outlines the different approaches taken by NSW Agriculture to quantifying economic impacts on irrigators and provides the results of case studies in two regulated river catchments heavily developed for irrigation—the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Catchments.     

Methods of consensus building for community-based fisheries management in Bangladesh and the Mekong Delta

A method of consensus building for management of wetlands and fisheries using a systematic approach to participatory planning and initially developed in Bangladesh is now being applied in both Bangladesh and the Mekong delta. The method recognizes diversity in livelihoods and works through a structured learning and planning process that focuses on common interests. It works with each category of stakeholder separately to prioritize the natural resource problems that their livelihoods are largely dependent on; they then share and agree common priorities in plenary. Then the stakeholder groups separately analyze possible solutions and their impacts, before meeting in plenary to share their analysis and form a consensus on win–win solutions. The process identifies the collective actions that are needed to arrive at preferred solutions, and determines potential impacts on different stakeholders and responsibilities for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. We outline the process in the context of building social capital through consensus, and compare indicators of social capital as an outcome of its application in a Vietnamese village in the Mekong delta with the outcomes of a similar process in a floodplain wetland in Bangladesh.     

参与式灌溉管理的现状及发展趋势

参与式灌溉管理是目前国际上灌溉管理改革的重要模式之一.参与式灌溉管理就是在政府的宏观调控扶持下,让灌区广大用水户参与到灌区的建设和管理的事务中来,按市场经济规律,并充分考虑灌区的特殊要求,经营管理灌区,使灌区良性运行.用水户参与管理的前提是组建用水户协会,用水户协会具有法人地位.其实质就是民主管理、广泛监督.介绍了参与式灌溉管理产生的背景、国内外的发展状况,分析了参与式灌溉管理的内涵、管理模式及成效,说明了用水户协会的特点、存在的问题及对策,并对其发展趋势作了展望.     

Environmental services and poverty reduction: Options for smallholders in the Sahel

Environmental service provision is increasingly discussed as a potential new venue for the simultaneous pursuit of development and natural resource conservation objectives, particularly among landowners in the low-income tropics. To date, most of the experience with such market-regulated mechanisms comes from water and forest projects in Latin America. Preliminary evidence suggests that participation of, and benefits to, small-scale land users are highly unequal and that the synergistic goals of poverty reduction and resource conservation through these emerging market mechanisms might be overly ambitious. This paper assesses the possibility of pro-poor environmental service provision through carbon sequestration among smallholders in the Sahel. It focuses on a case study in the small-scale, rain-fed agricultural systems of the Old Peanut Basin of Senegal. Based on a conceptual framework including economic, institutional, policy and livelihood factors, it assesses to the extent to which specific groups of farmers are able or willing to participate in and benefit from potential carbon offset programs. Finally, the paper stresses the need for adequate and equitable financial support and a careful rethinking of the institutional structures necessary to enhance rural livelihoods and natural resource management in drylands, with or without market-based environmental service programs.     

基于新工科背景下电子信息专业实践能力培养育人模式探索

在建设"新工科"背景下,针对目前农业院校电子信息专业实践教学中存在的问题,我校电信专业围绕培养"适应新工科需求的电信人才"的实践教学目标,"以学生为主体"着力培养学生"素养、基础、综合、创新"的综合实践能力,通过产学融合将企业力量引入各级实践教学环节中,建立"校企双师模式",形成了以课内实践教学为主干,课外实践活动促优...     

农机企业设备更新中人才不相容问题研究

以某农机企业设备更新过程中的环境为研究对象,运用可拓学的基本理论,分析了农机企业设备更新中的优势和劣势资源,构建了资源不相容问题的可拓模型;并就人才短缺问题进行了可拓分析,化可拓资源为可控资源,为农机企业的设备更新提供了人才保证.该研究不仅扩大了可拓学的应用范围,而且为农机企业设备管理提供了新的思路和方法.     

延吉市节水型社会建设任务与评价指标体系研究

针对延吉市水资源开发利用、保护治理和规划管理中存在的问题,结合全国节水型社会建设试点积累的实践经验,研究并提出延吉市节水型社会建设任务、评价指标体系和保障措施等。初步形成以总量控制、定额管理、水权交易为主的节水运行机制,在总水量控制和经济诱因的驱使下,使各类用水户有了自主节水的动力,改变了传统的以行政手段和方式为主推动节水的模式,在有限的水资源条件下,取得了经济社会发展和生态保护双赢的局面。     

Improvement of irrigation management towards the sustainable use of groundwater in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

The great expansion of irrigated lands using groundwater has often caused the exploitation of aquifer reserves beyond their recharge capacity. The development of management tools which can harmonize resource exploitation with reserve sustainability is the objective of an interesting experience being accomplished in the aquifer 08.29 in Mancha Oriental, Spain. This paper offers a summary of this ongoing project (GESMO), pointing out the specific role of the Irrigation Advisory Service. The general objective of the project is to create an integrated and integral management system of the aquifer as well as to prepare appropriate techniques for its adequate exploitation. Integral management means that both supply and demand management are considered, including the socio-economic and environmental perspectives. The concept of integrated management implies that the process must involve the majority of economic and social agents affected.

Management is founded on a Decision Support System (DSS) which takes into consideration different possible options. The DSS must contemplate the impacts on the environment, mainly the aquifer reserve losses and the increase of nitrates concentration in groundwater. The project directly affects more than 5000 agricultural users, irrigating about 100 000 ha with the aquifer water resources, as well as the whole population living in this region. Results of this project, including irrigation technologies developed may be useful for other areas in the Mediterranean Basin where similar cases occur.     

交易成本、制度效率与农业水资源管理制度创新

导致我国农业水资源使用效率低下的原因是多方面的,而深层原因在于我国农业水资源管理制度的缺陷所导致的交易成本的上升和制度效率的降低。文章首先对交易成本、制度效率的概念做了界定并简要阐述了交易成本、制度效率与制度创新之间的关系;其次,文章对我国农业水资源管理制度缺陷进行了分析;再次,文章对我国建立WUA的实践进行了归纳并得出了一定的启示;最后,文章提出了构建我国三元农业水资源管理制度框架的设想。     

社会适应性能力对水资源稀缺影响作用的定量分析——以黑河流域中游的张掖市为例

在论述当前水资源管理阶段性特征的基础上,引入了社会适应性能力概念(也称社会资源或第二类资源),并介绍了其内在构成及其度量指标。同时,构建了社会化水资源稀缺指数,并以河西内陆河-黑河流域中游的张掖市为例进行了实证研究,结果表明:张掖市各县区如果考虑动用当地较丰富的社会资源,则水资源紧缺状况得到不同程度的缓解。社会化水资源稀缺指数更能如实反映水资源状况,社会资源是一种重要的资源,对缓解水资源紧缺程度具有重要的作用。     

Advances in farming systems analysis and intervention

In this paper, we recognize two key components of farming systems, namely the bio-physical ‘Production System’ of crops, pastures, animals, soil and climate, together with certain physical inputs and outputs, and the ‘Management System’, made up of people, values, goals, knowledge, resources, monitoring opportunities, and decision making. Utilising upon these constructs, we review six types of farming systems analysis and intervention that have evolved over the last 40 years, namely: (1) economic decision analysis based on production functions, (2) dynamic simulation of production processes, (3) economic decision analysis linked to biophysical simulation, (4) decision support systems, (5) expert systems, and (6) simulation-aided discussions about management in an action research paradigm. Biophysical simulation modelling features prominently in this list of approaches and considerable progress has been made in both the scope and predictive power of the modelling tools. We illustrate some more recent advances in increasing model comprehensiveness in simulating farm production systems via reference to our own group's work with the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM). Two case studies are discussed, one with broad-scale commercial agriculture in north-eastern Australia and the other with resource poor smallholder farmers in Africa. We conclude by considering future directions for systems analysis efforts directed at farming systems. We see the major challenges and opportunities lying at the interface of ‘hard’, scientific approaches to the analysis of biophysical systems and ‘soft’, approaches to intervention in social management systems.     

Using a role-playing game to inform the development of land-use models for the study of a complex socio-ecological system

We present an integrated methodology composed of a role-playing game on land adjudication from which we extract narrative and spatially explicit drivers of land-use decisions. We show how geographic information systems (GIS), qualitative decision-matrix analyses, a simple rule-based model using multi-criteria evaluations (MCE), and a machine learning-based land-transformation model (LTM) can be used harmoniously to study complex socio-ecological systems. We evaluate how each technique performs in the study of complex socio-ecological systems using a multi-tier framework detailing how each method analyzes the resource system, resource units, governance system, users and interactions and outcomes in the system. We show that each approach enhances our understanding of the land-use decision making process. Each method provides various information on the drivers of land-use decision, some focusing more on spatial components of socio-ecological systems (resource system and resource unit) and other having a strong emphasis on social mechanisms (governance system, users, interactions and outcomes). Furthermore, we shed light into the existence of a flow of information between the various methods enhancing our understanding of land-use drivers. We end with a discussion on methodological tradeoffs between models and the value of our more holistic approach to modeling land-use drivers and decisions.     

农业科技成果价值评估网络管理信息系统——基于PHP技术

农业科技成果价值评估网络管理信息系统运用PHP技术,实现了对农业科技成果评价的科学化、公平化、高效化和网络化的管理,推进了农业科技成果转化的进程。为此,具体介绍了该系统的详细设计,包括体系结构设计、总体功能设计、数据库设计和系统安全设计,并且简述了系统各类用户的使用权限、方法以及工作的业务应用平台。     

基于MapX的抚州市防洪管理系统的设计与实现

根据抚州市防洪管理的现状及存在的问题,利用GIS技术完成了抚州市防洪资源的可视化管理,可高效准确的查询受灾人口、受灾面积、空间分布等情况,为抚州市防洪部门提供规划决策服务.主要从系统开发平台的选择,系统结构、数据库的建立等方面阐述了系统的开发过程,对其他城市的防洪信息管理建立提供了一条新的有效的途径.