For effective administration of agricultural credit, financial institutions while granting credit to farmers for agricultural purposes consider a number of factors. This paper focused on the evaluation of the critical factors that are considered by financial institutions in disbursement of credit to farmers in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria....

Artículo presentado en el VIII Encuentro de Nutrición y Producción de Monogástricos, en Venezuela en el año 2005, destaca beneficios del sistema al aire libre y la utilizacion de razas rústicas como la pampa-rocha en Uruguay con las bondades que poseen al ser utilizadas en este sistema de pequeños y...

Como se revisó en el capítulo anterior, la Pequeña Agricultura Campesina, dado el contexto político económico que se encuentra, presenta serias dificultadas para poder perdurar en el tiempo y alcanzar mayores grados de desarrollo. Evidentemente el escenario de desprotección en que se presenta, sumados a otros factores impiden la sustentabilidad...

Grasslands with legumes, as the basic source of nitrogen, should play an essential part in organic agriculture systems. The proportion of grasslands of the total area of all types of organic croplands in Poland in 2002 highlights its importance (>45% of the total 41 thousand ha) (Zastawny et al., 2003)....

European consumers have become increasingly more aware of food safety issues, as a consequence of a number of food ‘scandals’. Most of these ‘scandals’ have been related to livestock products. However, most consumers still believe that it is possible to produce ‘safe’ food at low prices, while a small group...

During the past decade, the general attitude of the population towards health, nutrition, quality and environment has remarkably changed. Consequently, organic farming is increasing, especially in economically developed countries. Due to the growing demand, government subsidies and other economic advantages, the cropping area has increased. In Hungary, organic farming principally...

Developing nations such as Fiji are grappling with how they can utilise their environmental resources to improve local living conditions while protecting the integrity of ecological systems. Different development approaches are adopted but in these areas, the environment is altered and polluted as a result of sustained human activities. The...

Organic milk production in the UK increased from 16 million litres in 1997/98 to 218 million litres in 2001/02 (MDC, 2002). Consumers often cite health benefits of organic food as a reason for purchase (Hill and Lynchehaun, 2002; MDC, 2002). To date, only minor differences in composition between organic and...

Over 60% of Africans depend on some form of farming for their sustenance and livelihoods. Agriculture remains vital for the continent’s development and economic growth. So the recent stagnation or decline in farm productivity in in many parts of Africa is a major concern. For many communities and countries, this...

The nutritive value of forages for ruminants highly depends on the ratio between cell content and cell walls and on the ability of the rumen microorganisms to degrade the plant cell walls (Waldo, 1986). The primary function of the NDF fraction in ruminant diets is to provide energy for microbial...

One of the characteristics of organic farming is the conservation of domestic, endogenous livestock breeds and strains. For a successful development of the organic pig sector in Southern Europe, the animals must be well adapted domestic breeds, as they are exposed to extreme weather conditions in the free range systems...

Maintaining high welfare status and allowing birds access to natural behaviour and outdoors are particular challenges in organic egg production. Feather pecking, foot problems, external parasites and poor utilisation of outdoor areas have been recognised as problems in organic layer systems (Lampkin 1997, Berg 2001, Kjilstra et al. 2003). Inexperience...

All stakeholders in the organic livestock food chain have different priorities with respect to food quality. Stakeholders include producers, wholesalers, retailers, advisory bodies, certification groups, regulatory and inspection groups (such as environmental health officers & food microbiologists) and the consumer. Due to the wide range in requirements by these different...

While the level of consumption of organic food is markedly lower in Hungary than in many other European countries, there is an increasing trend among consumers to look for functional and ethically and environmentally sustainable food. This potentially opens up new perspectives for the organic food producers who currently are...

Nearly 1,600 organic farming enterprises are inspected by the Hungarian organic inspection authority, Biokontroll Hungária Kht.. Only 160 of these farms keep livestock. Cattle are the most common species, but the percentage of sheep is also significant (Biokontroll Hungária Kht., 2004). The sheep are generally kept in extensive circumstances, on...

The increasing world population, in the mid-20th century, increased the demand of plant and animal products, leading to intensive and monoculture agriculture systems in conventional agriculture. The abundant and low-cost production from per unit and/or animal head were seen as primary objectives in these systems, and ecologic balance and health...

The Ethiopian national bean program traditionally followed conventional approaches in bean improvement for smallholder farmers. The relative effectiveness and efficiency of Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) compared to conventional approaches is not fully understood. The study was initiated to evaluate participatory plant breeding in bean improvement to disseminate more acceptable and...

Economic reforms launched in the early 1990s have significantly affected Czech agriculture for more than a decade. First was the reform of property rights to land, which was considered an underlying condition for the effective functioning of a market economy. The reform was built upon three principals: restitution of land...

Over 1 million people became landowners during the mass privatization and reorganization of collective farms in Moldova. More than 200,000 peasant farms, second one – “Survey of farm managers”, were conducted by at import owing 1.8 ha of land each, and became the most typical economic entities farming this land....

Russian dairy enterprises underwent dramatic changes during 1990-2001. Not much is known about the position of these enterprises under the new conditions. This study examined a sample group of dairy enterprises in the Moscow region to try to identify similarities and divergences in historical background, performance, managerial and structural characteristics....