To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data

African farmers are poorly resourced, highly diverse and aground by poverty traps making them rather impervious to change. As a consequence R4D efforts usually result in benefits but also trade-offs that constraint adoption and change. A typical case is the use of crop residues as mulches or as feed...

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Main Authors: Rodríguez, D., Voil, P. de, Rufino, Mariana C., Odendo, M., Wijk, Mark T. van
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/79783
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author Rodríguez, D.
Voil, P. de
Rufino, Mariana C.
Odendo, M.
Wijk, Mark T. van
author_browse Odendo, M.
Rodríguez, D.
Rufino, Mariana C.
Voil, P. de
Wijk, Mark T. van
author_facet Rodríguez, D.
Voil, P. de
Rufino, Mariana C.
Odendo, M.
Wijk, Mark T. van
author_sort Rodríguez, D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description African farmers are poorly resourced, highly diverse and aground by poverty traps making them rather impervious to change. As a consequence R4D efforts usually result in benefits but also trade-offs that constraint adoption and change. A typical case is the use of crop residues as mulches or as feedstock. Here we linked a database of household surveys with a dynamic whole farm simulation model, to quantify the diversity of trade-offs from the alternative use of crop residues. Simulating all the households in the survey (n = 613) over 99 years of synthetic climate data, showed that benefits and trade-offs from “mulching or munching” differ across agro-ecologies, and within agro-ecologies across typologies of households. Even though trade-offs between household production or income and environmental outcomes could be managed; the magnitude of the simulated benefits from the sustainable intensification of maize-livestock systems were small. Our modelling framework shows the benefits from the integration of socio-economic and biophysical approaches to support the design of development programs. Our results support the argument that a greater focus is required on the development and diversification of farmers' livelihoods within the framework of an improved understanding of the interconnectedness between biophysical, socio-economic and market factors.
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spelling CGSpace797832024-05-01T08:15:41Z To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data Rodríguez, D. Voil, P. de Rufino, Mariana C. Odendo, M. Wijk, Mark T. van mulch farming systems research African farmers are poorly resourced, highly diverse and aground by poverty traps making them rather impervious to change. As a consequence R4D efforts usually result in benefits but also trade-offs that constraint adoption and change. A typical case is the use of crop residues as mulches or as feedstock. Here we linked a database of household surveys with a dynamic whole farm simulation model, to quantify the diversity of trade-offs from the alternative use of crop residues. Simulating all the households in the survey (n = 613) over 99 years of synthetic climate data, showed that benefits and trade-offs from “mulching or munching” differ across agro-ecologies, and within agro-ecologies across typologies of households. Even though trade-offs between household production or income and environmental outcomes could be managed; the magnitude of the simulated benefits from the sustainable intensification of maize-livestock systems were small. Our modelling framework shows the benefits from the integration of socio-economic and biophysical approaches to support the design of development programs. Our results support the argument that a greater focus is required on the development and diversification of farmers' livelihoods within the framework of an improved understanding of the interconnectedness between biophysical, socio-economic and market factors. 2017-05 2017-02-07T13:27:10Z 2017-02-07T13:27:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/79783 en Open Access Elsevier Rodriguez, D., Voil, P. de, Rufino, M.C., Odendo, M. and Wijk, M.T. van. 2017. To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data. Agricultural Systems 153: 32-42
spellingShingle mulch
farming systems
research
Rodríguez, D.
Voil, P. de
Rufino, Mariana C.
Odendo, M.
Wijk, Mark T. van
To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title_full To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title_fullStr To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title_full_unstemmed To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title_short To mulch or to munch? Big modelling of big data
title_sort to mulch or to munch big modelling of big data
topic mulch
farming systems
research
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/79783
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AT voilpde tomulchortomunchbigmodellingofbigdata
AT rufinomarianac tomulchortomunchbigmodellingofbigdata
AT odendom tomulchortomunchbigmodellingofbigdata
AT wijkmarktvan tomulchortomunchbigmodellingofbigdata