Assessing farmers' attitudes to, and the behavioural costs of, organic fertiliser practices in northern Ghana: An application of the behavioural cost approach.

The use of organic fertiliser to improve soil health is crucial to halting the downward trend of crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa. If this goal is to be achieved, however, farmers require support to adopt organic fertiliser practices that match their attitudes and decision-making capacity. This study evaluated farmers' attitudes to a set of prevailing organic fertiliser practices and their associated behavioural costs (difficulty).

Costs of regulating ammonia emissions from livestock farms near Natura 2000 areas - analyses of case farms from Germany, Netherlands and Denmark.

Natura 2000 areas are designated according to the EU's Birds and Habitats Directives in order to protect particular habitats and species. A variety of these habitats and species are particularly sensitive to deposition of nitrogen caused by ammonia emissions. Livestock farming is the primary source of this pollution.

Contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas emissions. An estimation based on typical farms.

Background, Aim And Scope: Studies on the contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are rare (FAO 2010) and often based on crude data which do not appropriately reflect the heterogeneity of farming systems. This article estimates GHG emissions from milk production in different dairy regions of the world based on a harmonised farm data and assesses the contribution of milk production to global GHG emissions.

Materials, Methods And Results: The methodology comprises three elements: (1) the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) concept of typical farms and the related globally standardised dairy model farms representing 45 dairy regions in 38 countries; (2) a partial life cycle assessment model for estimating GHG emissions of the typical dairy farms; and (3) standard regression analysis to estimate GHG emissions from milk production in countries for which no typical farms are available in the IFCN database.

Milk production systems in Central Uganda: a farm economic analysis.

The Ugandan dairy sector is developing rapidly over recent years and is dominated by small-scale farmers owning more than 90 percent of the national cattle population. Due to market forces and higher competition for production factors, milk production systems are intensifying, necessitating proper understanding of the new production tendencies. Three intensive and four extensive production systems were identified and analysed, using TIPI-CAL (Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculations model).