MACHINERY SYSTEMS IN TROPICAL
AGRI-FOOD CHAINS
Francesco Garbati Pegna
Lesson 1
Environment
Meaning of Tropical Rural Development
The environment the course refers to is that of
less developed tropical rural areas
This implies a particularity in terms of climate,
infrastructure, human, labor, actors
Tropics
Development
Tropical
Developing Countries
G20+
Developing Countries and Food Security
South of the World
The term was firstly used by Willy Brandt in 1980 and widely
adopted after the fall of the Berlin wall and the lost of
significance of the terms First, Second and Third World
The Brandt line
North-South Divide
The North–South divide is broadly considered a socio-economic and political divide.
Generally, definitions of the North include the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and
developed parts of East Asia. The South is made up of Africa, Latin America, and developing
Asia. The North is home to four of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council and all members of the G8.
World map showing countries above and below the world average GNP PPP (per capita)
██ above world average
██ below world average
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_divide
More details on DC
http://www2.dse.unibo.it/ardeni/ES_2009-10/Paesi-in-via-di-sviluppo.htm
(Italian)
Wide and varied mechanization sphere
Mechanization in Asia and Latin America
In countries such as India, China, Brazil and Turkey, the
rapid expansion in farm machinery demand has stimulated
the growth of local machinery manufacture to the point
where these countries are now major producers and world
leaders in farm machinery exports
Examples of success
Mechanization schemes have been successful in many countries in
Africa, particularly when coupled with irrigation. For example, the
Gezira Scheme in Sudan has a history of mechanization that goes back
to 1924 when steam was, for a few years, the motor power before
internal combustion engines took over. By the 1970s, 100 000 tenant
farmers were cropping 760 000 ha with the assistance of mechanized
cultivation services provided by the scheme under contract.
Elsewhere, mechanized schemes with tenant farmers or out growers
for crops such as cotton and sugar have been successful. Individual
farmers in many African countries have taken the opportunity to
acquire machinery, often second hand, for their own farm operations
and to contract cultivation services to neighbors. These have been
isolated cases but they do indicate that African farmers have begun to
recognize the usefulness and operationalization of machinery services.
http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/Pub_free/agricultural_mechanization_in_Africa.pdf
But in many areas mechanization doesn’t
succeed in rooting
Years ’70-80: Large scale projects with important
mechanization components
Foto M. Burioni
In some cases failures are evident
Superficiality and wrong choices
In some cases Interests and corruption
Objective difficulties due to the
context
Recent renewal of interest for mechanization …
… but the problem persists
Infrastructural deficiencies
Problems with management of spare parts and
cannibalization
Some progress has been achieved in Africa in the last two
decades with regard to agricultural production. Nevertheless,
agricultural operational efficiency and productivity, and,
therefore, the prosperity of a very large proportion of the African
population, has remained a problem.
Recently, a number of the factors that hindered mechanization
efforts and processes in the past, be they socio-economic,
technological or political, have moderated. Africa’s institutional,
industrial and financial knowledge and capacities have
improved since the turn of the century.
Therefore, it is time to give agricultural mechanization a new
look.
http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/Pub_free/agricultural_mechanization_in_Africa.pdf
Need for a new approach
- Appropriate technologies
- Integrated approach
- Training
- Sustainability
- …………..
Amidst the visions and paradigms for a world that can sustainably feed 9 billion
people by 2050, agricultural policymakers may wish for some straight-forward
guidance on which farming technologies they should be promoting. This report
from the International Food Policy Research Institute analyses 11 key
technologies that deserve attention, using a number of models to assess their
comparative value (in terms of yields and resource use), for production of rice,
maize and wheat, under two possible climate scenarios (one hotter and wetter
than the other).
The results suggest a three-pronged effort is needed. Firstly, increase
investment in agricultural research in order to build crop resistance to heat,
drought, pests and diseases. Secondly, invest in research, development and
use of resource-conserving farm management, including no-till and minimum
tillage, integrated soil fertility management, improved crop protection, and
precision agriculture. And thirdly, increase investment in cost-effective
irrigation, thereby improving the returns to other technologies. In particular,
they recommend that support for advanced irrigation technologies, such as drip
and sprinkler irrigation, will save water while maintaining yield levels.
http://spore.cta.int/en/component/content/article/272-spore/publications-3/9851technology-choices
Exercise:
read the report of the previous page and
synthetize its’ contents in a .ppt presentation
outlining the most important points