AGROPASTORALISM

The study of urbanism in the oases of pre-Islamic south-western Central Asia remains a critical issue. However, modern perspectives are typically shaped by the iconic image of cities as densely populated commercial centres of intensively farmed oasis hinterlands, characteristic for the region during the pre-Islamic and Islamic Middle Ages. Yet for Sogdiana during antiquity, such a picture is problematic. At least for Bukharan Sogdiana – the focus of this study – there is no evidence for genuine urban centres before the 4th or 5th century CE. It is not easy to address questions concerning the character of settlements in the Bukhara oasis during antiquity. Certainly, part of the issue lies in the fact that Antique-period levels have not been extensively excavated inside the oasis, mostly due to the presence of massive later medieval occupation levels. Only at the fringes of the oasis – in areas outside the present-day and the medieval irrigated oasis – can we hope to get a more systematic insight into the question of how settlements and their patterns in the region looked during antiquity. In this paper we focus on the Antique site of Bashtepa and its surrounds, lying at the interface of the Bukhara oasis and the Kyzyl-kum Desert, in order to explore an example of a Central Asian oasis without cities.

A series of crises which Karamoja experienced in recent decades has compromised the viability of livelihood strategies on which its largely agropastoralist and pastoralist population had traditionally relied. The paper investigates the effects which this development has had on some of the region’s most vulnerable inhabitants: adolescent girls and young women who participate in BRAC’s Youth Development Programme (YDP). It uncovers the scale of livelihoods transition which has eroded previously well-defined gender roles and forced Youth Development Centre (YDC) members, and many other Karamojans, to become involved in the newly-emerged monetised economy through small-scale income generating activities (IGAs). The paper also considers participation in BRAC’s savings scheme targeted at YDC members who – given the recent emergence of cash economy in Karamoja – currently have little experience of managing financial flows and insufficient capital to expand their economic activities.

SYMBOLIC GARMENTS OF CAMELIDS AND AGRO-PASTORAL RITES IN
THE SOUTH OF BOLIVIA
In the Andean ambit, from pre-Columbian epochs, the llamas and alpacas had a great
importance, and the llama was also used as a carrying animal in caravans. Many garments,
such as flowers (tikas), crowns, and bells, express the strong relations, in many cases
symbolic, that bound these animals with their owners, and show the sacred character of
these camelids. This article tries to explain some of the meanings of this garments and
the fundamental role of the llamas for the Andean shepherd, starting from the study of
community of shepherds located in the Department of Potosí, Bolivia. After presenting
the geographic characteristics of the community studied, the two most important periods
of economic and ritual activity are described, on one hand, the trip of the llameros towards
the oriental valleys between July and August, and on the other hand, the marking of the
animals in the ritual of the señalkuy, made in April, that expresses the privileged relations
that link men with their animals and with the divinities. Finally, some hypothesis about
the possible ritual meanings of both activities and of the distinct garments that the llamas
wear in their realization are addressed.

Karamoja - Uganda's poorest region - has become a major target of development and relief interventions, but little research has thus far focused on its inhabitants’ perceptions of their circumstances. This paper contains the voices and opinions of Karamojans from six communities in four districts of Karamoja. They share their concerns about the conditions in which they live and express their particular understanding of poverty. The paper finds that, following the loss of much of their livestock, Karamojans have devised new ways of coping with deprivation. Their strategies have not, however, been entirely successful and many continue to suffer from hunger. Karamojans are acutely aware of their desperate situation and have definite ideas about the actions which should be undertaken to alleviate poverty.

In the fourth millennium BP, there were major environmental and cultural changes on the Andean altiplano of South America, but the chronology remains vague. A recent synthesis describes a slow, gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agropastoralism. This proposal is tested by refining the date of the onset of more humid and stable conditions, around 3550 cal BP, based on a Bayesian model of 26 dates from Lake Wiñaymarka and an updated calculation of the lacustrine offset. This is compared to Bayesian models of 191 dates from 20 archaeological sites, which incorporate a number of recently processed radiocarbon dates. A synthesis is presented of 15 full coverage surveys, a summed probability distribution, and a Bayesian model of the transition to ceramics, which together support a scenario of a very rapid demographic increase. Fourteen models from archaeological sites are cross-referenced in a composite model, which identifies a brief, altiplano-wide emergence of agropastoralism with starting and ending boundaries of 3540 and 3120 cal BP, respectively. This starting boundary correlates strongly with the onset of improving environmental conditions, indicating synchronous cultural and environmental change. The suite of accelerating cultural changes included a marked reduction in mobility, a demographic surge, increased subsistence diversity, the adoption of ceramics, farming and the integration of camelid herding into a remarkably resilient economic strategy still in use today. This is a highly relevant but yet to be used comparative case study for the variable tempos of ‘big histories’, and ecocultural interactions that generate rapid, emergent episodes of wide-spread and enduring cultural change.

Master's Thesis (I). This work is concerned with the unusual concentration of hydraulic features located near the headwaters of the Nepeña valley. Throughout a spatial and architectural analysis we discuss the strategy(ies) of water management in the upper part of the valley and evaluate the social implication of such infrastructures. This thesis represents the first attempt to examine an archaeological watershed management in the 'Cordillera Negra' by compiling the data of Kevin Lane, Alexander Herrera and Jesús Maza.

The mid-Holocene was an extremely dry period in the Lake Titicaca Basin of South America, when lake levels were at their lowest point in the Holocene. South of the lake, a lack of outflow and very low and irregular precipitation would have created desert-like conditions. This area's 'archaeological silence' seems to reflect an effective lack of population. This situation changed drastically as lake levels rose suddenly in the centuries following 3540 cal BP. As the desert disappeared, a flux of migrants filled the landscape, probably from the population concentration in the basin's western highlands. They imported and developed new technologies and economic practices and reorganized them into an agropastoral lifeway. The emergence of agropastoralism was both rapid and widespread, as people throughout the Lake Titicaca Basin adopted this practice. This major, regional shift can be productively framed as an adaptive cycle or Holling loop. This approach builds on the robust foundation of complexity theory, emphasizes the integrated nature of humans and their environment in a single system, highlights how systems fluctuate between slow and accelerated change, and is useful for developing hypotheses. Cascading feedback loops in climate, ecology, and cultural practices generated the emergence of agro-pastoralism. This resilient system is still in use today and is currently facing major climate changes, which makes understanding its origins especially relevant.

Patterning in the archaeobiological remains from Gordion, Turkey, provides evidence of a continuum in agropastoral practice. At one end, high ratios of seeds of wild plants vs. cultivated cereal grains (calculated as count/weight) and high proportions of the bones of sheep, goat, and deer are signatures of a subsistence economy focussed on pastoral production. At the other, low wild:cereal ratios along with high proportions of the bones of cattle, pig, and hare indicate an economy more focused on agriculture. The highpoint of agricultural intensification occurs in the Middle Phrygian period, a time of great wealth, but the norm for the region shows shows that the most sustainable land use around the ancient settlement emphasized pastoral production. The signatures for agricultural or pastoral emphasis are remarkably similar to that seen on sites along the Euphrates.

In a recent special issue of The Holocene, Miller et al. review the evidence for the spread of millet (Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica) across Eurasia. Among their arguments, they contend that millet cultivation came to Eurasian regions with hot, dry summers when irrigation was introduced, as part of a region-wide shift toward agricultural intensification in the first millennium BC. This hypothesis seems to align with the pattern of agricultural change observed in the Khorezm oasis, a Central Asian polity of the first millennium BC and first millennium AD. While we wholeheartedly accept this hypothesis for its explanatory value regarding trends across Eurasia, in this paper we nevertheless suggest that the introduction of millet to Central Asia needs further explication. Specifically, we seek to address the underlying assumption that this introduction was predicated upon centrally organized, state-level land development, increased sedentism, and the rise of Mesopotamian-style social complexity. We describe how millet cultivation in Khorezm was preceded by multi-resource strategies that included the cultivation of summer crops, and emphasize that this earlier history mattered significantly to the evolution of Khorezmian society and agriculture in the first millennium BC. In contrast to the imperial systems of West Asia, in Khorezm the introduction of complex irrigation works supported the expansion and greater stratification of pre-existing agropastoral lifeways, and helped to buttress the rise of nomadic elites within an agrarian zone. We believe the example of Khorezm is important because it helps to explain the emergence of integrated mobile- sedentist societies in the first millennium AD in Central Asia as a result of agricultural change. It also provides cultural and historical context to the spread of millet cultivation in the first millennium BC, suggesting that this phenomenon had significantly different implications for societies across Eurasia.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683616687385

At first sight, the agdal consists of banning grazing each year for a given period, allowing a resting period to the vegetation, the establishment of young seedlings and thus the continuity of the ecosystem and of the pastoral activity. Our primary aim is to put into perspective the pastoral production systems and the cultural representations of the population of the Ayt Ikiss in the High Atlas of Marrakesh, on the basis of an analysis of the system of tagdalts (combined system of several small agdals) and of the functioning of the pastoral Agdal of Yagour. Secondly, we analyse the main transformations with which the local agro-pastoral society is confronted. Our position is that we can only understand the concept and the practice of the agdal within the framework of a holistic and total approach that takes into account the bioecological, technical, legal, economic and symbolic systems. The agdal is a key factor of the economic system and of the local agro-pastoral system. But it also includes a fundamental cultural dimension. The religious institutions and the ritual practices are the mainstay of the rules of the agdal and occupy a central position in the management of the pastoral territory ofYagour, the maintenance of biodiversity and the long term conservation of communal pastoral resources.  

Investigaciones recientes han permitido plantear que en el Valle de Ambato, Catamarca, entre los siglos VI y X d.C., se desarrolló un sistema de producción agropastoril que incluía y articulaba simultáneamente la cría de plantas y camélidos en un mismo espacio y con una misma infraestructura, constituyendo una práctica integral única de producción animal, vegetal y forrajera. Esta práctica económica combinó en una misma trama de relaciones modos de hacer ejecutados hasta entonces como estrategias económicas autónomas y con trayectorias históricas independientes, articulando de manera mutualista la producción de animales y plantas para el consumo (humano y animal).

Recently developed modules in GRASS GIS combine spatial, climatic, geological, and cultural data in order to estimate how the long-term interactions among these factors contribute to the evolution of landscapes. Additionally, these modules allow users to visualize anthropogenic impacts of extensive agropastoralism on landscapes by subjecting the pre-defined catchment areas to repeated land use activities for a certain length of time. The results emphasize the economic and ecological value of extensive agropastoralism in the marginal landscapes, which make anthropogenic activities more sustainable in the long-term. The results of this research are not only significant for its methodological contributions in anthropological archaeology but also have broader significance for researchers interested in interdisciplinary approaches in assessing the long-term dynamics of human-environment relations.

En este artículo, desde una perspectiva hermenéutica
de la Arqueología del Paisaje, discuto la aplicabilidad
del concepto de palimpsesto para interpretar los
paisajes agrícolas andinos. Propongo, en cambio, una
perspectiva basada en una analogía textil mediante la
cual el paisaje pueda interpretarse en términos de un
tejido de actividades, por un lado, y un entramado de
lógicas y narrativas en el tiempo, por el otro. Desarrollo
el concepto a través de su aplicación en un caso de
estudio concreto: el sitio agropastoril multicomponente
Huayatayoc Alto, localizado en Cusi Cusi (Puna de
Jujuy, Argentina).

This paper analyses the role of cattle in the entwined dynamics of conflict and violence in the Fizi and Itombwe region of South Kivu province, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. On the one hand, agropastoral conflict intensifies armed mobilisation, allowing armed groups to draw upon particular conflict narratives that generate popular and elite support. It also creates incentives for armed actors to engage in cattle-looting, or the defense against it, for both symbolic and material reasons. On the other hand, the presence of armed forces and the use of violence profoundly shape agropastoral conflicts. Importantly, they change the perceived stakes of these conflicts, and hamper their resolution. By showing that the relations between cattle-related conflict and armed activity are indirect, complex and mutual, the paper refines both theories on agropastoral conflict and those highlighting the role of local conflicts in fuelling violence in the eastern Congo.

Among the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia, individual misdeeds and wrong-doings are expected, especially when it comes from children and adolescents, as it is believed that misbehaviour is part of human nature. To prevent them from harming themselves and others, chil­dren, adolescents and adults have to be guarded, and guided, and also sanctioned by their age-mates and seniors. As unresolved con­flicts are believed to bring about misfortune and cause disasters such as warfare, sickness or droughts, disturbed social relations are usually mended through social sanctions. In her research Susanne Epple examines the specific social roles individuals achieve or are ascribed to during their lives. She looks at the specific modes of communication used to articulate, confirm and strengthen social relations between chil­dren, adolescents, adults and elderly people of both sexes. In this context, she shows that the existing age-set organisation has an influence on all members of Bashada society. While the relationships between adult men as members of the different age-sets are clearly defined and interaction between them follows certain rules, the relations among children, adolescents and women follow the principle of seniority in a more general way. Besides giving a close insight into Bashada lives, the author offers a new perspective on East African age-set societies.

Nutrient balances aggregated at the continental, national, or regional levels for African farming systems are usually reported as strongly negative. At the landscape or farm scale, the most commonly reported variability is the gradient of decreasing soil fertility from intensively managed “home” fields to more extensively managed “bush” fields. Case study evidence from an agro-pastoral community of southern Mali’s cotton zone showed that “home” and “bush” fields differed significantly in nutrient balances and soil fertility status but that inter-household differences related to household practice and social factors were even more important.

Rainfed agriculutre in Ethiopia is constrained by temporal and spatial variations in climate and severe land degradation caused by soil erosion that is exacerbated by lack of appropriate technologies. The continued shrinking per capita agriculutral land due to population growth and diminishing land quality challenges the livelihood of the communities. This requires multifaceted and targeted interventions. Testing and scalling up of interventions require a relatively uniform system, but the basin's potential and constraints for crop and livestock productivity is hetrogenous. Farming systems are often taken as important entry point for scaling up of agricultural technolgies. Based on secondary data on climate, soil, crop and livestock, and the master plan of the subbasins, this study clustered and mapped the major farming systems and subsystems in the Nile Basin. Two major systems, the mixed crop-livestock farming and the pastoral/agropastoral livelihoods have been identified. The former was sub-grouped into the cereal based, coffee-tree crops complex and the enset-root crops complex subsystems. The cereal based system was further classified into the single cropping, double cropping and shifting cultivation subsystems, each of which was subdivided based on the dominant crop. The current productivity of the major crops in each farming systems was analysed and found to be lower than not only their potential but also their national average. However, some selected soil, water and crop management technologies have shown substantial yield increase. Thereore, it is believed scaling up of proven tachnologies within a farming system can substantially enhance crop yield and imrpove livelhood.

This paper presents a place-based examination of the timing and long-term pedogenic effects of human-induced forest to pasture conversion in the French western Pyrenees Mountains, Basque commune of Larrau. We analyzed colluvial stratigraphic sections to derive the chronology of landscape change using radiocarbon dating, charcoal concentrations, magnetic susceptibility, and n-alkanes to reveal when forests were replaced by pastures (largely by intentional use of fire). In addition, we compared properties of native forest soils to those of adjacent long-term pastures using a paired t-test approach. Results indicate that intense burning and clearing occurred in the late Holocene, starting at about 4,000 cal yr BP, but limited fires occurred on the landscape during the early and middle Holocene. After 4,000 cal yr BP the sedimentation rates significantly increased, constituting “legacy” sediment, but post-4,000 cal yr BP sedimentation rates remain well within a range typical for forested hillsides (< 1 mm yr-1). Thus, erosional degradation is not apparent. Our paired analysis of old-growth forests compared to long-term pastures reveals that soils of millennial pastures are building up by additions of organic matter and phytoliths, as well as by decreases in bulk density of topsoils. The pastured A horizons are triple the thickness of those in forests, and pastures have significantly lower bulk densities, resulting in much more rapid water infiltration capacities. Although the concentrations of some inorganic nutrients in the pastured soils are significantly lower than in forested soils (mg kg-1 basis), the overall result is that the soils in pastures are of higher quality than those in forests. Melanization of the pastured profiles is an indirect anthropogenic process that has built-up the A horizons through time, which testifies to the importance of human agency in long-term soil evolution. The agropastoral uplands of Larrau stand in contrast to conventional degradation narratives of millennially grazed landscapes. The apparent sustainability of this landscape suggests that over the long term, agropastoral land use actually can result in changes to soils and landscapes that facilitate conservation.

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Background: Rehabilitation and optimized utilization of agro-pastoral dams (APDs), especially for vegetable production , has been recently promoted to boost agricultural production and ensure food security in Benin. However, little information was available on APDs' agricultural potentials and knowledge of how APDs' ecosystem services were exploited by the various stakeholders, and how each stakeholder group contributed to the degradation of the common good was scanty. This study explored three APDs in northern Benin to diagnose vegetable production systems and assess producer's perception of APD degradation. Results: The results indicated that vegetable production around the APDs was a part-time activity dominated by women, and characterized by low external input use and a diversity of African indigenous vegetables. There was a strong gender difference in cropping systems, farming practices and land access, and a significant agreement on key production bottlenecks among producers. The main constraints included conflicts with livestock herders generated by the recurrent destruction of crops and seedlings by livestock, lack of equipment, pest and disease management challenges, access to water and inputs. Water erosion and runoff, livestock, vegetable production and food crops and cotton farming around the dams were respectively perceived as factors that contribute to APDs' siltation and affect water quality. In comparison with water erosion and runoff, experienced producers and those with higher vegetable species richness were more likely to rank farming as first source of threat to APDs. Urbanization and market access were drivers of intensification of vegetable production around APDs. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate how information on cropping and farming practices, and producers' perception can provide insights and research and development avenues for integrated dam management and sustainable production for improved food security and livelihoods. We discussed the implications of our findings and suggested a number of strategic decisions and research avenues for integrated dam management and sustainable vegetable production around APDs. Avenues for future research and development actions include: (1) a tailored and gender-specific training programme on sustainable production practices targeted to women; (2) developing scenarios of the

Synopsis This is a chapter from a Springer book. Present-day land utilization in the pastoral regions of NW China shows the influence of both the long tradition of herding and the impact of population increases through inward migration, and of the changing policy environment from the mid-twentieth century. Management options and livelihood strategies for the herders and farmers in NW China are considered and evaluated. The necessity of working within a systems framework is explained. Key Points 1. There are only a few management options available to the land users. Those that do exist fall into two categories: Reduce total grazing pressure (from livestock, from mammalian competitors) and Increase feed supply and/or utilization efficiency (by planting sown pastures, and fodder crops, by utilizing crop residues in a better way, e.g. urea treatment, by conserving fodder as hay or silage). 2. Recently there has been a reshaping of the local agro-pastoral production systems and rural livelihoods. The main strategies adopted can be classified into two main groups: Reactive/Shorter term coping mechanisms and Proactive/Longer term adaptive changes. 3. A prerequisite to any plan to improve the herder incomes or the productivity of the rangelands is to gain a good understanding of the existing system and the linkages between the components of the system. Experience has shown that 42 Victor Squires et al. "packaging" interventions is essential because attention to a single aspect such as better breeds will do little to overcome the existing bottlenecks. 4. Many changes are occurring that effect the relationships between the herders and those in adjacent areas. There are now important new linkages between the rangelands, the farming community, villages as service centers and the larger urban centers that provide a market for many livestock products. 5. As China moves toward a market economy the influence of both supply and demand for livestock products (milk, meat, fiber) and environmental concerns loom large. Importantly, the role of the pastoralist becomes that of a supplier of market demand rather than a mediator between the rangeland and animals. 6. Rural livelihood strategies in the regions are changing. At the household level the income generated through agriculture and rural activities seems increasingly unable to satisfy the economic needs of a family; and the labor opportunities provided by herding and farming do not inspire the younger generations. As a result the importance of income sources produced off-farm are becoming of utmost importance. Keywords Agro-pastoral • herders • farmers • markets • livelihood strategy • population growth • rangeland conversion • sown pasture • packaging interventions • fodder crops • crop residues • systems framework • ecosystem services • non-equilibrial • biodiversity • livestock • gender bias • animal dung as fuel • edible plants

Regional basis of lithic resources and sources of raw materials at southern Yocavil Valley. This paper presents the structure of the regional basis of lithic resources at southern Yocavil Valley, Catamarca. Through survey, it was identified primary and secondary sources of raw materials. By petrographic analyzes, it was mineralogically identified. Over this information, it was feasible to approach to procurement strategies of lithic resources held in the formative site Soria 2, particularly for grinding tools. On the other hand, neutron activation analysis confirmed the presence of obsidian from Ona and Laguna Cavi sources at the site and its belonging to aloctonous material circulation networks of the formative period

This study estimates the economic contribution in a qualitative and quantitative way of the pastoral mountain territory of the Yagour (High Atlas of Morocco), governed by the locally emerged institution of the agdal. The maghrebian agdal, like the HIMAS in the Mashrek, is a system of communal management of natural resources, but in this case mainly of the amazigh (the Berber ethnic community). In the case studied here, a high mountain pastoral agdal consists on prohibiting herding during three months in spring, allowing vegetation regeneration, establishment of new seeds, and continuity of local pastoralism and ecological cycles. Specifically, and after giving a general overview of the agdals, the economic contribution of the Yagour to the population of the Ait Ikiss that belongs to the Mesioua tribe was studied. Field work was conducted from 2003 to 2008 adding up to one whole year of cohabitation with the Ait Ikiss through all agropastoral seasons. As main result it was found that the agdal-managed Yagour providing an important annual agro-pastoral income through its fodder contribution. Nevertheless, since highly rigorous accounting is impossible in a society that weakly monetizes its production, all along the text complementary qualitative data were presented to gain a better understanding of all the dimensions of the agdal of Yagour. Based on these findings, it could be concluded that even if highly underestimated by national administrations, the agdal communal management system, like the HIMAs of the Mashrek, could be considered an important practice for the functioning of the local agropastoral economies, at the same time, as it favors the ecological functioning of the present environments in a culturally embedded and highly legitimate way.

This dissertation reconsiders the political and ethno-cultural frontiers of North China, taking as a case study a group that thrived in the Eastern Intermediate Zone (Hebei-Liaoning-Rehe border zone) known as the Qai or Tatabï in Turkic sources, as the Kumak Qai (Kùmò Xī 庫莫奚), and later, just Qai (Xī 奚) in Chinese sources, and now Tatayar in Kitan sources. The dissertation argues against the existence of a strict borderline between southern sedentary agrarian polities and northern nomadic pastoral polities by documenting the development of early polities in the region, highlighting the transition from “Big Man” polities based on the strength of individual personas to the development of hereditary houses in the model of steppe and Chinese hereditary empires from the second century BCE to the tenth century CE. The story of state formation in the region is told through the combination of historical ecological data from the region (modern-day Ningcheng county, Inner Mongolia), traditional Chinese historical accounts (termed “pseudo-ethnographies”), and the incorporation of newly accessible Kitan language sources. The historical politics and ecology of the region are complex, and the Qai were not horse-riding herders as some of the pseudo-ethnographies suggest; they made use of the environment through the cultivation of crops, the raising of livestock, hunting by foot mountain forests, and other ways. Under the Kitan Liao (907-1125), Qai identity was preserved, reemerging with the establishment of the short-lived Great Qai State in 1123, but the Qai Princes of the Liao and their staff, appointed by the Kitan, did not represent Qai interests. New developments in the Kitan language sources reveal the Qai autonym, Tatayar, and the title of the Qai leaders, qaghan, confirming that the Qai were an historical community with hereditary titles in use prior to the Liao. Geographical boundaries do not necessarily define ecological boundaries. The cycle of polity formation shifting between “Big Man” polities and hereditary monarchies ending with the rise of the house of Yêrud (Yélǜ 耶律) of Liao demonstrates that foreign influence catalyzed state formation, yet ethnicity did not determine political loyalties.

Rainfed agriculutre in Ethiopia is constrained by temporal and spatial variations in climate and severe land degradation caused by soil erosion that is exacerbated by lack of appropriate technologies. The continued shrinking per capita agriculutral land due to population growth and diminishing land quality challenges the livelihood of the communities. This requires multifaceted and targeted interventions. Testing and scalling up of interventions require a relatively uniform system, but the basin's potential and constraints for crop and livestock productivity is hetrogenous. Farming systems are often taken as important entry point for scaling up of agricultural technolgies. Based on secondary data on climate, soil, crop and livestock, and the master plan of the subbasins, this study clustered and mapped the major farming systems and subsystems in the Nile Basin. Two major systems, the mixed crop-livestock farming and the pastoral/agropastoral livelihoods have been identified. The former was sub-grouped into the cereal based, coffee-tree crops complex and the enset-root crops complex subsystems. The cereal based system was further classified into the single cropping, double cropping and shifting cultivation subsystems, each of which was subdivided based on the dominant crop. The current productivity of the major crops in each farming systems was analysed and found to be lower than not only their potential but also their national average. However, some selected soil, water and crop management technologies have shown substantial yield increase. Thereore, it is believed scaling up of proven tachnologies within a farming system can substantially enhance crop yield and imrpove livelhood.

Background: Rehabilitation and optimized utilization of agro-pastoral dams (APDs), especially for vegetable production , has been recently promoted to boost agricultural production and ensure food security in Benin. However, little information was available on APDs&#39; agricultural potentials and knowledge of how APDs&#39; ecosystem services were exploited by the various stakeholders, and how each stakeholder group contributed to the degradation of the common good was scanty. This study explored three APDs in northern Benin to diagnose vegetable production systems and assess producer&#39;s perception of APD degradation. Results: The results indicated that vegetable production around the APDs was a part-time activity dominated by women, and characterized by low external input use and a diversity of African indigenous vegetables. There was a strong gender difference in cropping systems, farming practices and land access, and a significant agreement on key production bottlenecks among...

This paper employs data from selected sample survey areas in the northern Fertile Crescent to demonstrate how initial urbanization developed along several pathways. The first, during the Late Chalcolithic period, was within a dense pattern of rural settlement. There followed a profound shift in settlement pattern that resulted in the formation of large walled or ramparted sites ('citadel cities') associated with a more dynamic phase of urbanization exemplified by short cycles of growth and collapse. By the later third millennium BC, the distribution of larger centres had expanded to include the drier agropastoral zone of northern and central Syria, termed here the 'zone of uncertainty'. This configuration, in turn, formed the context for Middle Bronze Age settlement, and the pattern of political rivalries and alliances that typified the second millennium BC. Evidence is marshalled from archaeological surveys and landscape analyses to examine these multiple paths to urbanization from the perspectives of (a) staple production within major

The dry stone wall landscape surrounding the town of Cres is a unique cultural landscape; it is one of the largest well-preserved historical olive groves in the Croatian Adriatic, while simultaneously serving as pasture for sheep. Still, there are currently no studies that capture this landscape as a multifunctional whole or which acknowledge its relevance within the current multidisciplinary discussions. The aim of this paper is to clarify past and current circumstances surrounding and affecting it. The study focuses on two main pillars of landscape preservation: (1) dry stone wall structures and (2) agro-pastoral practices; giving an overview of its historical formation and current management and trends. The goal is to establish knowledge that can be used as a foundation for the management of this area and present a good practice example for the preservation of historical landscapes in the Mediterranean region. The research involved combined desk and fieldwork: cartographic data a...

The dry stone wall landscape surrounding the town of Cres is a unique cultural landscape; it is one of the largest well-preserved historical olive groves in the Croatian Adriatic, while simultaneously serving as pasture for sheep. Still, there are currently no studies that capture this landscape as a multifunctional whole or which acknowledge its relevance within the current multidisciplinary discussions. The aim of this paper is to clarify past and current circumstances surrounding and affecting it. The study focuses on two main pillars of landscape preservation: (1) dry stone wall structures and (2) agro-pastoral practices; giving an overview of its historical formation and current management and trends. The goal is to establish knowledge that can be used as a foundation for the management of this area and present a good practice example for the preservation of historical landscapes in the Mediterranean region. The research involved combined desk and fieldwork: cartographic data a...

Background: Rehabilitation and optimized utilization of agro-pastoral dams (APDs), especially for vegetable production , has been recently promoted to boost agricultural production and ensure food security in Benin. However, little information was available on APDs&#39; agricultural potentials and knowledge of how APDs&#39; ecosystem services were exploited by the various stakeholders, and how each stakeholder group contributed to the degradation of the common good was scanty. This study explored three APDs in northern Benin to diagnose vegetable production systems and assess producer&#39;s perception of APD degradation. Results: The results indicated that vegetable production around the APDs was a part-time activity dominated by women, and characterized by low external input use and a diversity of African indigenous vegetables. There was a strong gender difference in cropping systems, farming practices and land access, and a significant agreement on key production bottlenecks among...

Rainfed agriculutre in Ethiopia is constrained by temporal and spatial variations in climate and severe land degradation caused by soil erosion that is exacerbated by lack of appropriate technologies. The continued shrinking per capita agriculutral land due to population growth and diminishing land quality challenges the livelihood of the communities. This requires multifaceted and targeted interventions. Testing and scalling up of interventions require a relatively uniform system, but the basin's potential and constraints for crop and livestock productivity is hetrogenous. Farming systems are often taken as important entry point for scaling up of agricultural technolgies. Based on secondary data on climate, soil, crop and livestock, and the master plan of the subbasins, this study clustered and mapped the major farming systems and subsystems in the Nile Basin. Two major systems, the mixed crop-livestock farming and the pastoral/agropastoral livelihoods have been identified. The former was sub-grouped into the cereal based, coffee-tree crops complex and the enset-root crops complex subsystems. The cereal based system was further classified into the single cropping, double cropping and shifting cultivation subsystems, each of which was subdivided based on the dominant crop. The current productivity of the major crops in each farming systems was analysed and found to be lower than not only their potential but also their national average. However, some selected soil, water and crop management technologies have shown substantial yield increase. Thereore, it is believed scaling up of proven tachnologies within a farming system can substantially enhance crop yield and imrpove livelhood.