In the Brazilian savanna, there is a risk that soil fertility of pastures declines to a level below that of the native savanna because of low fertilizer application. To evaluate biophysical pasture sustainability we compared regularly fertilized productive pasture (PP), degraded pasture fertilized 13 yr previously (DP), and native savanna (Cerrado, CE) in an on-farm experiment. We determined (i) biomass productivity of the pastures and (ii) nutrient concentrations in Anionic Acrustoxes from three plots under each of CE, DP, and PP.

The attitudes of farmers in relation to the importance of different people as information and opinion sources (InfS) for different phases of the decision-making process were studied in 91 Costa Rican dairy farmers. The InfS studied were: Family members, Other farmers, Technical advisors, Farm staff and Commercial agents, while the phases were: Problem detection, Seeking for problem solutions, Seeking for new practices and Seeking for opinion. A Multidimensional Preference Analysis (MDPREF) was used to obtain a two-dimensional map of preference of the farmers.

A crops specialist and a livestock specialist from the Matopos research station describe technologies being developed to support smallholder farmers experiencing drought

Library has French version: TIC au secours des éleveurs du Sahel