Improving production and quality of life for smallholder farmers through a climate resilience program: An experience in the Brazilian Sertão.

We use a combination of economic and wellbeing metrics to evaluate the impacts of a climate resilience program designed for family farmers in the semiarid region of Brazil. Most family farmers in the region are on the verge of income and food insufficiency, both of which are exacerbated in prolonged periods of droughts. The program assisted farmers in their milk and sheepmeat production, implementing a set of climate-smart production practices and locally-adapted technologies. We find that the program under evaluation had substantive and significant impacts on production practices, land management, and quality of life in general, using several different quasi-experimental strategies to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated farmers. We highlight the strengths and limitations of each evaluation strategy and how the set of analyses and outcome indicators complement each other. The evaluation provides valuable insights into the economic and environmental sustainability of family farming in semiarid regions, which are under growing pressure from climate change and environmental degradation worldwide.

Pesticide application, educational treatment and infectious respiratory diseases: A mechanistic model with two impulsive controls.

In this paper, we develop and analyze an SIS-type epidemiological-mathematical model of the interaction between pesticide use and infectious respiratory disease transmission for investigating the impact of pesticide intoxication on the spread of these types of diseases. We further investigate the role of educational treatment for appropriate pesticide use on the transmission dynamics. Two impulsive control events are proposed: pesticide use and educational treatment. From the proposed model, it was obtained that the rate of forgetfulness towards educational treatment is a determining factor for the reduction of intoxicated people, as well as for the reduction of costs associated with educational interventions. To get reduced intoxications, the population's fraction to which is necessary to apply the educational treatment depends on its individual effectiveness level and the educational treatments' forgetfulness rate. In addition, the turnover of agricultural workers plays a fundamental role in the dynamics of agrotoxic use, particularly in the application of educational treatment. For illustration, a flu-like disease with a basic reproductive number below the epidemic threshold of 1.0 is shown can acquire epidemic potential in a population at risk of pesticide exposure. Hence, our findings suggest that educational treatment targeting pesticide exposure is an effective tool to reduce the transmission rate of an infectious respiratory disease in a population exposed to the toxic substance.

Ethiopia's transforming wheat landscape: tracking variety use through DNA fingerprinting.

Ethiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa yet remains a net importer. Increasing domestic wheat production is a national priority. Improved varieties provide an important pathway to enhancing productivity and stability of production. Reliably tracking varietal use and dynamics is a challenge, and the value of conventional recall surveys is increasingly questioned. We report the first nationally representative, large-scale wheat DNA fingerprinting study undertaken in Ethiopia. Plot level comparison of DNA fingerprinting with farmer recall from nearly 4000 plots in the 2016/17 season indicates that only 28% of farmers correctly named wheat varieties grown. The DNA study reveals that new, rust resistant bread wheat varieties are now widely adopted. Germplasm originating from CGIAR centres has made a significant contribution. Corresponding productivity gains and economic benefits have been substantial, indicating high returns to investments in wheat improvement. The study provides an accurate assessment of wheat varietal status and sets a benchmark for national policy-makers and donors. In recent decades, the Ethiopian wheat landscape has transformed from local tetraploid varieties to widespread adoption of high yielding, rust resistant bread wheat. We demonstrate that DNA fingerprinting can be applied at scale and is likely to transform future crop varietal adoption studies.

[Sex education through popular education for health in a Brazilian rural social movement]. / Educación popular en salud para la educación en sexualidad en un movimiento social rural brasileño.

Based on the ideas of Paulo Freire, the methodological framework of Popular Education for Health (PEH) provides a more adaptable method for sex education, including societal participation as well as the social, historical and cultural dimensions of the population. The purpose of this work is to relate one such PEH experience in sex education, which took the form of a community project with a group of students from 10 to 28 years of age attending Itinerant Schools and with groups from the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in the state of Parana, Brazil. This work provides knowledge of certain elements that may help in developing similar projects, not only for sex education but also education for other public health issues. PEH demonstrates a method of ensuring socially effective participation in the different dimensions of health-promotion strategies.

Impact of Training Bolivian Farmers on Integrated Pest Management and Diffusion of Knowledge to Neighboring Farmers.

Teaching farmers integrated pest management (IPM) in farmer field schools (FFS) has led to reduced pesticide use and safer handling. This article evaluates the long-term impact of training farmers on IPM and the diffusion of knowledge from trained farmers to neighboring farmers, a subject of importance to justify training costs and to promote a healthy and sustainable agriculture. Training on IPM of farmers took place from 2002 to 2004 in their villages in La Paz County, Bolivia, whereas dissemination of knowledge from trained farmer to neighboring farmer took place until 2009. To evaluate the impact of the intervention, self-reported knowledge and practice on pesticide handling and IPM among trained farmers (n = 23) and their neighboring farmers (n = 47) were analyzed in a follow-up study and compared in a cross-sectional analysis with a control group of farmers (n = 138) introduced in 2009. Variables were analyzed using χ2 test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Trained farmers improved and performed significantly better in all tested variables than their neighboring farmers, although the latter also improved their performance from 2002 to 2009. Including a control group showed an increasing trend in all variables, with the control farmers having the poorest performance and trained farmers the best. The same was seen in an aggregated variable where trained farmers had a mean score of 16.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 15.45-17.65), neighboring farmers a mean score of 11.97 (95% CI: 10.56-13.38), and control farmers a mean score of 9.18 (95% CI: 8.55-9.80). Controlling for age and living altitude did not change these results. Trained farmers and their neighboring farmers improved and maintained knowledge and practice on IPM and pesticide handling. Diffusion of knowledge from trained farmers might explain the better performance of the neighboring farmers compared with the control farmers. Dissemination of knowledge can contribute to justify the cost and convince donors and governments in low-income countries to prioritize farmers training.

FAMACHA© system assessment by previously trained sheep and goat farmers in Brazil.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of adoption and the correct use of the FAMACHA© system amongst sheep and goat farmers trained in a previous hands-on course. A survey was carried out with 1375 people who received FAMACHA© training from July 2009 to May 2011 in Paraná State, Brazil. The survey was conducted from March 2012 to May 2013. Firstly, a questionnaire was applied with specific questions for farmers about their anthelmintic (AH) treatment practices before and after the FAMACHA© training. In a second step, eight of the questionnaire respondents classified as sheep or goat farmers were contacted for an in loco visit during which the application of the FAMACHA© system was evaluated in the respective farms and blood samples were collected from 20 animals to calculate sensitivity and specificity. A total of 124 farmers responded the questionnaire (9% of project participants). Farmers accounted for 48.4% of total responses. Half of these farmers (51.6%) reported losses related to parasites in their property before the training. Antiparasitic treatments, at fixed intervals, were responsible for 93.1% of deworming practices before the training project. FAMACHA© was unknown for 51.7% of the respondents, and 31% knew the chart, but did not use it. After the project, 69% had adopted the system and 83% assessed the animals at regular intervals. However, 18.9% did not evaluate all animals. During the in loco visits, problems reported included the incorrect exposure of the ocular mucosa (50% of farmers) and not using the chart (87.5%). Also, 62.5% did not keep records of the FAMACHA© assessment history of the flock. However, sensitivity was 100%, with 0% false negatives. We conclude that, amongst farmers who adopted the system, despite some methodological errors regarding its use, the objectives were met in terms of reducing the number of anthelmintic treatments and providing anemic animals with AH treatment. Trained farmers seemed to require technical guidance post-training to promote effective use of the FAMACHA© system.

O conhecimento e a prática sobre homeopatia pela família agrícola / The knowledge and the practice on Homeopathy for the agricultural family

A família agrícola como pesquisadora na unidade produtiva tem função fundamental na validação da homeopatia como opção na agropecuária. Possui conhecimentos adquiridos por meio de experimentação na prática do dia-a-dia. São muitos os resultados observados da participação da família agrícola como pesquisadora. Avaliar as informações geradas com as experimentações, conhecer a lógica adotada pela família agrícola, que estuda a base e os princípios da ciência da Homeopatia, identificar como a homeopatia está sendo percebida pela família agrícola e identificar a origem e fonte do conhecimento, foram alguns dos objetivos desse estudo. O estudo foi realizado por meio de entrevistas com agricultores (as) familiares que utilizam e têm conhecimento sobre homeopatia via Curso de Extensão em Homeopatia da Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV). Abrangeu 17 municípios, sendo 12 das regiões da Zona da Mata e Vale do Rio Doce e 5 municípios do Noroeste do Espírito Santo. Foram entrevistadas 44 pessoas, sendo 77% da faixa etária de 26 a 50 anos. A maioria dos entrevistados eram agricultores (as) de sistema de agricultura familiar e suas unidades produtivas variando entre micro e pequenas propriedades, sendo a fonte de renda oriunda da agricultura e da pecuária. Concluiu-se deste estudo que há tecnologias geradas com as experiências na unidade produtiva por meio do conhecimento adquirido e a homeopatia é de fácil entendimento e aplicação. O curso de homeopatia é efetivo em levar conhecimento sobre homeopatia à família agrícola e os conceitos de homeopatia estão sendo aplicados nas experimentações gerando conhecimento.(AU)

The agricultural family as researcher in the productive unit has fundamental function in the validation of the homeopathy as option in the farming. Farming family acquired knowledge through experimentation in practice day by day. There are many observed results from the participation of the agricultural family as researcher. To evaluate the information generated with the experimentations, to know the logic adopted by the agricultural family, that develop studies on the base and principles of Science of the Homeopathy, to identify as the homeopathy is being noticed by the agricultural family and to identify the origin and source of the knowledge, those were some of the objectives of this study. The study was accomplished through interviews with farmers family that use and have knowledge on homeopathy through Course of Extension in Homeopathy of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) including 17 municipal districts, being 12 from Zona da Mata and Vale do Rio Doce and 5 municipal districts of Northwest Espírito Santo. They were interviewed 44 persons, being 77% of the age group 26 to 50 year old. Most of the interviewees was part of family agriculture and their productive units were small farms, the source of income originating from agriculture and the livestock. It was concluded of this study that there are technologies generated with the experiences in the productive unit through the acquired knowledge and the homeopathy is of easy understanding and application. The homeopathy course is effective in giving knowledge on homeopathy to agricultural family and the homeopathy concepts are being applied jointly with other sources of knowledge.(AU)