Structural change is integral to evolving economies (Goddard et al., 1993). Although increased agricultural productivity has allowed the release of resources needed by other sectors of the economy, structural change in agriculture usually has a negative connotation in public debate (Balmann and Valentinov, 2016). There are mainly two types of public concern about structural change in agriculture, with the former expressed as “dying peasants” and the latter as “factory farming” (Balmann and Valentinov, 2016).

Gene-editing technologies represent a promising new tool for plant and animal breeding in low- and middle-income countries. They enhance precision and efficiency over current breeding methods and could lead to rapid development of improved plant varieties and animal breeds. However, as for any new technology, they have their merits and demerits.

By capturing the prioritization of 22 innovations by 71 farmers against those of advisors, this paper examines the level of awareness and contextualized conceptualization of 31 indicators of Climate Smartness Plus (equity, one health and enabling environment). Concordance analysis reveals differences in prioritization among farmers and agricultural advisors: with advisors giving relatively higher ratings as they set broader goals than farmers. We find that farmers give equal priority to productivity, adaptation, and mitigation while advisors overly prioritise productivity

As Rwanda is expected to return to its rapid growth trajectory following the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture will continue to play a central role in the structural transformation of the entire economy. To this end, the Government of Rwanda continues to invest in the agricultural sector by building on Strategic Plans for the Transformation of Agriculture (PSTAs) that began in the early 2000s. The challenging question is how to prioritize public expenditures across a broad portfolio of policies and programs. Ambitious plans, whether in the short or long term, require difficult decisions.

The aim of this guideline is to provide a methodological approach for an integrated aquaculture performance assessment. It was developed as a deliverable of the Scaling Systems and Partnerships for Accelerating the Adoption of Improved Tilapia Strains by Small-Scale Fish Farmers (SPAITS) project. One of the main outputs of the project is to conduct an integrated performance assessment of improved tilapia strains in participating small-scale fish farming households in Myanmar. The integrated assessment comprises three domains: economic, social and environmental.

We estimate demand elasticities for fish in Myanmar by fish supply sources and household groups, using a multistage budgeting approach combined with quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS). Our findings show that fish demand from all supply sources and household groups has increased with income. A substantial share of increasing demand for all fish groups is likely to come from poor and rural households because the income elasticity of demand for all fish groups is higher for poor (0.40) and rural households (0.32) than for nonpoor (0.26) and urban households (0.29).

Although policies can be critical constraining or enabling factors for aquatic food systems (AqFS) development, scarce evaluation of the impacts of existing policies means that decision-makers have limited understanding of how to improve the design and implementation of effective policies. This paper reviews key policy issues in AqFS and how they have been analyzed and assessed to provide context-tailored policy options and guidance. Our review shows that countries face many policy issues but have little analysis on them.

While numerous studies have documented the benefits of conservation agriculture (CA) in South Asia, most focus on favorable environments where farmers have reliable access to energy supporting irrigation and inputs. The performance of CA in South Asia’s under-developed coastal environments is comparatively understudied.

Partially protected areas are now the dominant global form of spatial management aimed at preserving ecosystem integrity and managing human use. However, most evaluations of their efficacy use only a narrow set of conservation indicators that reflect a fraction of ways in which protection can succeed or fail. In this paper, we examine three case studies of partially protected coral reef fishery systems to evaluate benefits and risks of their use as a management tool.

Tropical deforestation is estimated to cause about one-quarter of anthropogenic carbon emissions, the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuel combustion. Deforestation is also catastrophic for the communities that depend on tree harvesting for the livelihoods and who suffer the consequences of natural disasters linked to deforestation (e.g., mudslides). Avoiding the over-harvesting of communal forests in Malawi and other developing countries is particularly difficult because community members face enormous incentives to over-harvest.

Participatory land use planning (PLUP) for pastoral areas overcomes many of the challenges of conventional land use planning including creating hard boundaries around villages or other administrative units, breaking up and limiting
or preventing access to shared grazing lands and water points. PLUP for pastoral areas aims to keep rangelands
and particularly grazing lands intact working across administrative boundaries through joint PLUP agreements strengthening reciprocal relations, collective tenure and good governance and resolving and preventing conflicts