From December 9 to 13, 2013 more than 160 administrators, farmers, scientists and students gathered in Battambang, Cambodia for the 4th International Conference on Conservation Agriculture in Southeast Asia. From all parts of the world, these agriculturalists discussed how to produce more while preserving ecosystem services across different subject matters such as soil health, gender, agricultural technology, and more. Continue reading
Category Archives: General
Adlai Grass Promises to Be Conservation Agriculture Super Crop
Adlai grass (Coix lacryma-jobi L.), more commonly known in English as Job’s tears, has proven an agricultural success at the SANREM LTRA-12 site in Mindanao, the Philippines in plot experiments that occurred in July 2012.
Initially pioneered by the Bureau of Agricultural Research of the Philippines (BAR), adlai studies were the focus of BAR research initiatives conducted in 2010 with NGO partners Earthkeepers and MASIPAG, a consortium of farmers and other agri-focused individuals.
Third Book in Vegetable-Agroforestry Series to Launch at SWAT Seminar and Workshop in Bogor, Indonesia
Cover of the newly launched “Vegetable- Agroforestry Systems in Indonesia.” This is the third in a series of four books.
“Vegetable-Agroforestry Systems in Indonesia” is the third book in a four-part series detailing the uses and benefits of vegetable-agroforestry (VAF) in Southeast Asia. Previously in the series, authors explored VAF in Vietnam and the Philippines, while this newest addition, which launches at the SWAT Regional Seminar and Workshop in Bogor, Indonesia on June 27, focuses on systems in Indonesia. Continue reading
Elinor Ostrom, SANREM partner and Nobel Prize receipient, leaves legacy of commons research
Elinor Ostrom, a close collaborator of natural resource management with the SANREM CRSP at Virginia Tech, succumbed to pancreatic cancer at Indiana University’s Health Bloomington Hospital on June 12, 2012. Ostrom was widely lauded for her work in the analysis of economic governance of common property resources such as pastures, lakes, fisheries and forests. Continue reading
Book on Women’s Issues in Philippine Agroforestry to be Launched
Elena Javier, gender coordinator for LTRA-5 in Southeast Asia, has announced that she and her colleagues are launching a new book, “Holding their own: smallholder production, marketing and women issues in Philippine agroforestry.” An event to launch the book will be part of the programme of a research symposium held by the Social Development Research Center (SDRC) on March 28th, 2012.
Vegetable Agroforestry Systems in the Philippines book now available
Cover of the book “Vegetable-Agroforestry Systems in the Philippines”
A book on SANREM CRSP’s research details vegetable-agroforestry systems work in the Philippines. The book, “Vegetable-Agroforestry (VAF) Systems in the Philippines,” includes research by scientists from SANREM’s Phase III.
The book shows that growing high value crops in the Philippines’ uplands can be done while protecting the environment. In the uplands, 10 million hectares of land are degraded from deforestation and other human activities, hurting the small-scale farmers who depend on the land for food and income.
Graduate Assistant working with SANREM researches gender roles
Keri Agriesti, a Virginia Tech graduate student in geography from Bucyrus, Ohio, is studying the connection men and women who farm in Bolivia have with the soil. Agriesti works under Maria Elisa Christie, program director of Women in International Development. The work is a part of a gender component of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program, managed by Virginia Tech.
SANREM’s biodiversity conservation efforts in Zambia featured
The cover of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences featured SANREM-supported work on biodiversity conservation and poverty traps in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley as a special feature. Continue reading
SANREM CRSP names new program director
New SANREM CRSP program director Adrian Ares
Adrian Ares has been named program director of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program, managed by Virginia Tech’s Office of International Research, Education, and Development. He will begin his new position July 6.
Ares comes to Virginia Tech from Oregon State University, where he is a faculty research associate in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society.
SANREM receives award to improve rural roads in Ethiopia
Ethiopians build a stream crossing as part of a labor-based road construction project in Amhara province.
The SANREM CRSP has received an associate award from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to train Ethiopians to improve the construction and sustainability of their roads.
Many roads in Ethiopia are poorly designed and constructed, which leads to premature road failure, high maintenance costs, and serious environmental problems. The roads concentrate the flow of water, which increases erosion and causes sediment to build up on nearby fields, damaging crop growth. A better road design could lessen erosion and more efficiently disperse water to ponds for agricultural use during Ethiopia’s dry season.