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Abstract Achieving Zimbabwe’s national and international commitments to food systems transformation and climate resilience building is of high priority. Integrated simulation-based research approaches developed under the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) are important sources of evidence to guide policy decisions towards sustainable intensification. Through the identification of economically viable, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable development pathways, the analysis in this study evaluates co-benefits and trade-offs between climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions for vulnerable smallholder crop-livestock holdings in the semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe. We explore how climate effects disrupt the livelihoods and food security for diverse farm types, the extremely vulnerable and those better resource endowed but facing high risks. In an iterative process with experts and stakeholders, we co-developed context specific development pathways. They include market-oriented adaptation and mitigation interventions and social protection mechanisms that would support the transition towards more sustainable intensified, diversified and better integrated crop-livestock systems. We assess the trade-offs associated with adoption of climate-smart interventions aimed at improving incomes and food security but that may have consequences on GHG emissions for the different pathways and farm types. The approach and results inform the discussion on drivers that can bring about sustainable intensification, and the extent to which socio-economic benefits could enhance the uptake of emission reducing technologies thereof. Through this strategy we evaluate interventions that can result in win–win outcomes, that is, adaptation-mitigation co-benefits, and what this would imply for policies that aim at transforming agri-food systems.

Smallholder farmers’ livelihoods follow predictable and cyclical patterns related to annual cycles of weather, crop and animal production and market fluctuations. Understanding seasonality forms an essential part of unravelling farming systems behaviour and performance, especially in contexts with strong seasonality, such as southern Mali. Farmers make strategic, tactical and operational decisions related to different time horizons to support their agricultural activities. The diverse resource endowments of farming households influence their decisions, and adaptive capacity. This study aimed to understand farmers’ management decisions to cope with weather variability and related consequences. We used a case study approach to analyse temporal interactions between farming system components using data collected over three consecutive years (2017–2019). We focused on three research questions. First, how do farmers navigate the regular patterns of seasonal variations in rainfall, prices, food and fodder availability, and income? Second, how does seasonality influence complementarity between farm components, and trade-offs and synergies among farming objectives that result from the allocation of scarce resources? Finally, how do farming households of different resource endowments respond to unexpected changes and how does this affect the above-mentioned synergies and trade-offs? The data collection methods included (1) focus group discussions, (2) household surveys, and (3) detailed farm monitoring. Farmers undertook diverse production activities, which helped to mitigate negative consequences of crop failure. While providing opportunities for increased adaptive capacity, this diversity also creates interdependencies among farming system components, leading to reinforced positive outcomes in good years and negative outcomes in bad years. This double-edged sword challenges the simple assumption that diversification increases the stability of a farming system. All farm types faced seasonal resource constraints to adapt to unexpected changes. However, the magnitudes of changes in synergies and trade-offs among objectives were less pronounced for medium resource endowed farmers because of their more balanced people- and herd-to-land ratio compared to high resource endowed farmers. Our findings suggest that a better understanding of farm management decisions and the influence of seasonality is key to support farm productivity and to expand the adaptive capacity of smallholders. We suggest that policies aiming to support farm productivity should pay attention to the specific impediments faced by farms with different resource endowments to adapt to changes. Especially, access to credit helps poorer farmers not only to navigate the seasonal food and cash constraints but also to escape poverty traps.

Smallholder farming systems are vulnerable to disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic weakened the financial ability of the Malian government in the 2020–21 growing season to subsidize cotton farmers’ access to mineral fertilizers and the cotton company (CMDT) could not offer a good cotton price. Consequently, farmers refused to grow cotton, leading to a cotton crisis with implications on crop production and farmers’ livelihoods. We used data collected over three consecutive growing seasons in the old cotton basin of Koutiala and analysed them using two-way mixed ANOVA over selected indicators related to farm and household components. The analysis was done for farms of different resource endowment, through comparing the cotton crisis season to the two previous normal seasons. Besides the abandonment of cotton, the total cropped area and area devoted to maize reduced in 2020–21, while the area allocated to millet, sorghum and cowpea increased, especially for cotton farmers with medium and high resource endowments. In addition, the nitrogen use intensity dropped at the farm level and particularly for the cereal crops, but without negative effect on yields of maize, millet and sorghum. Food self-sufficiency and income per capita significantly increased for the medium resource farms, while income dropped for the high resource farms with large herds. The farming system was able to absorb the shock of limited access to fertilizer for one season, due to the elimination of otherwise strong labour competition between cotton and cereal crops, favourable weather conditions and farmers’ responsive coping with the cotton crisis. This study revealed the importance of disaggregated livelihood evaluations, because resource endowments have implications not only for the actual effect on livelihoods, but also for farmers’ adaptive capacity.

In South-West Uganda, manure is highly valued for sustaining yields of East African Highland Banana, but it is in short supply. As a result, banana growers import manure from rangelands up to 50 km away. We aimed to explore the potential of this regional banana-livestock integration to meet crop nutrient requirements for sustainable intensification of banana cropping systems. We used a mixed-methods approach supported by detailed data collection. Multiple spatial levels were integrated: field-level modelling to determine long-term nutrient requirements, a household-level survey to characterize farmer practices, and a regional-level spatial analysis to map banana production and manure source areas. For median to 90th percentile banana yields (37-52 t FW/ha/year), minimum K requirements were 118–228 kg/ha/year. To supply this with manure, 10.5–20.5 t DM manure/ha/year would be needed, requiring 47–91 tropical livestock units and 27–52 ha of rangeland, far more than what is potentially available currently. However, using only manure to satisfy potassium requirements increases the risk of N losses due to nutrient imbalances likely to result from large manure applications. For sustainable intensification, manure supplemented with K-based fertilizers is a better option than manure alone, as it is more cost-effective and reduces potential N losses.

In 2013, the Collaborative Crop Research Program (McKnight Foundation), initiated support for farmer research networks (FRNs). FRNs were envisaged as a general approach to networked participatory research aimed at supporting the agroecological intensification (AEI) of smallholder farming in ten countries in Africa and the Andes region in South America. The 30 FRNs ranged in size from 15 to more than 2,000 farmers. Rather than imposing a rigid FRN model, the programme used principles to guide action and reflection. The principles concerned ways of working with farmers, conducting research, and networking. This approach made it possible to reflect on how principles were interpreted, implemented, and used to guide learning in different contexts. This paper reports on insights gained from facilitated learning from 2013–2019 and focuses on subsets of diverse FRNs. Of the 30 FRNs supported, four were analyzed at some depth, reports and interviews were analyzed for 16, and a survey was conducted for 21. Relying on principles rather than an operational model has allowed for their progressive application, as participatory processes, farmer engagement, organizational capital, trust, and networks are built. Any reduced clarity and coherence seem outweighed by greater adaptability to context and resulting creativity.

Climate-related variability in crop production and market price variability affect food and income security of Uganda’s rural households. We used household surveys from two contrasting sites in Uganda to quantify the relationships between crop production variability, adaptation strategies and household resource characteristics. Variability of production was large for all crops with almost doubling of yields under good conditions and halving of yields in bad years. Ex-post adaptation strategies were common, and the most frequent were relying on off-farm income, selling livestock, and reducing food consumption. Using off-farm income or selling livestock to compensate for crop damage were not feasible for 25–50% of the population. Few households applied ex-ante adaptation strategies, and those who did used strategies that required little financial investment, such as switching crops. The restricted application of ex-ante adaptation strategies and the fact that major ex-post adaptation strategies were inaccessible for large parts of the population is alarming considering that climate change studies show that weather variability and extreme weather events are expected to worsen and to jeopardize crop production. Interventions must aim to reduce households’ sensitivity to variability in crop production and prices by increased preparedness to shocks, strengthening the asset base, and diversifying the livelihood portfolio. Social protection programmes are important for the poor who have no means to cushion effects from climate or price variability.

Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa need to increase to keep pace with food demands from the burgeoning population. Smallholder farmers play an important role in national food self-sufficiency, yet many live in poverty. Investing in inputs to increase yields is therefore often not viable for them. To investigate how to unlock this paradox, whole-farm experiments can reveal which incentives could increase farm production while also increasing household income. In this study we investigated the impact of providing farmers with a US$ 100 input voucher each season, for five seasons in a row, on maize yields and overall farm-level production in two contrasting locations in terms of population density, Vihiga and Busia, in western Kenya. We compared the value of farmers' produce with the poverty line and the living income threshold. Crop yields were mainly limited by cash constraints and not by technological constraints as maize yield immediately increased from 16% to 40-50% of the water-limited yield with the provision of the voucher. In Vihiga, at best, one-third of the participating households reached the poverty line. In Busia half of the households reached the poverty line and one-third obtained a living income. This difference between locations was caused by larger farm areas in Busia. Although one third of the households increased the area farmed, mostly by renting land, this was not enough for them to obtain a living income. Our results provide empirical evidence of how a current smallholder farming system could improve its productivity and value of produce upon the introduction of an input voucher. We conclude that increasing yields of the currently most common crops cannot provide a living income for all households and additional institutional changes, such as alternative employment, are required to provide smallholder farmers a way out of poverty.

Smallholder farming in sub-Saharan Africa keeps many rural households trapped in a cycle of poor productivity and low incomes. Two options to reach a decent income include intensification of production and expansion of farm areas per household. In this study, we explore what is a “viable farm size,” i.e., the farm area that is required to attain a “living income,” which sustains a nutritious diet, housing, education and health care. We used survey data from three contrasting sites in the East African highlands—Nyando (Kenya), Rakai (Uganda), and Lushoto (Tanzania) to explore viable farm sizes in six scenarios. Starting from the baseline cropping system, we built scenarios by incrementally including intensified and re-configured cropping systems, income from livestock and off-farm sources. In the most conservative scenario (baseline cropping patterns and yields, minus basic input costs), viable farm areas were 3.6, 2.4, and 2.1 ha, for Nyando, Rakai, and Lushoto, respectively—whereas current median farm areas were just 0.8, 1.8, and 0.8 ha. Given the skewed distribution of current farm areas, only few of the households in the study sites (0, 27, and 4% for Nyando, Rakai, and Lushoto, respectively) were able to attain a living income. Raising baseline yields to 50% of the water-limited yields strongly reduced the land area needed to achieve a viable farm size, and thereby enabled 92% of the households in Rakai and 70% of the households in Lushoto to attain a living income on their existing farm areas. By contrast, intensification of crop production alone was insufficient in Nyando, although including income from livestock enabled the majority of households (73%) to attain a living income with current farm areas. These scenarios show that increasing farm area and/or intensifying production is required for smallholder farmers to attain a living income from farming. Obviously such changes would require considerable capital and labor investment, as well as land reform and alternative off-farm employment options for those who exit farming.

The impact of compagny stragegies on the performance of small family compagnies. Dumoulin brick and pipe factory in Langemark and Wijtschate (Belgium), c. 1922-1981. The case of the Dumoulin brick and pipe factory (c. 1922-1981) in Langemark and Wijtschate in the southern Westhoek (Belgium) can be regarded as a typical example of a small, family-owned, West Flemish company that tried to survive in a turbulent business environment. In the twentieth century, the ceramic sector was characterized by large-scale technological changes and a rearrangement of the industrial landscape. This article reconstructs and analyzes the life cycle of the Dumoulin brick and pipe factory. The use of an explicit theoretical framework and the regional focus contribute to the international historiography of small and medium-sized enterprises and family businesses, as well as to the socio-economic history of West Flanders.

This paper examines an idea which has made some headway into legal scholarship and case law, namely, that the violation of a right ought to sound in substantial (compensatory) damages in and by itself, independently of any factual loss caused to the claimant. This doctrine of 'normative damages' was rejected, rightly, by the High Court of Australia in the wrongful imprisonment case of Lewis v. ACT in 2020. However, although the rejection was unanimous, its clarity was undermined by the fact that the issue of normative damages was intertwined with considerations of causal counterfactuals and the definition of false imprisonment. This article considers the doctrine in a broader perspective, examining where it has come from and arguing that normative damages are wrong as a matter of principle: not only do they contradict foundational principles of the Anglo-Commonwealth law of damages, they effectively amount to considering the same injury twice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Since the introduction of live-attenuated rotavirus vaccines in Belgium in 2006, surveillance has routinely detected rotavirus vaccine-derived strains. However, their genomic landscape and potential role in gastroenteritis have not been thoroughly investigated. We compared VP7 and VP4 nucleotide sequences obtained from rotavirus surveillance with the Rotarix vaccine sequence. As a result, we identified 80 vaccine-derived strains in 5125 rotavirus-positive infants with gastroenteritis from 2007 to 2018. Using both viral metagenomics and reverse transcription qPCR, we evaluated the vaccine strains and screened for co-infecting enteropathogens. Among the 45 patients with known vaccination status, 39 were vaccinated and 87% received the vaccine less than a month before the gastroenteritis episode. Reconstruction of 30 near complete vaccine-derived genomes revealed 0-11 mutations per genome, with 88% of them being non-synonymous. This, in combination with several shared amino acid changes among strains, pointed at selection of minor variant(s) present in the vaccine. We also found that some of these substitutions were true revertants (e.g., F167L on VP4, and I45T on NSP4). Finally, co-infections with known (e.g., Clostridioides difficile and norovirus) and divergent or emerging (e.g., human parechovirus A1, salivirus A2) pathogens were detected, and we estimated that 35% of the infants likely had gastroenteritis due to a 'non-rotavirus' cause. Conversely, we could not rule out the vaccine-derived gastroenteritis in over half of the cases. Continued studies inspecting reversion to pathogenicity should monitor the long-time safety of live-attenuated rotavirus vaccines. All in all, the complementary approach with NGS and qPCR provided a better understanding of rotavirus vaccine strain evolution in the Belgian population and epidemiology of co-infecting enteropathogens in suspected rotavirus vaccine-derived gastroenteritis cases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Despite the global use of rotavirus vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases remain a pediatric health problem. In this study, we investigated suspected rotavirus vaccine breakthrough cases using next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based viral metagenomics ( n  = 102) and a panel of semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-qPCR) ( n  = 92) targeting known enteric pathogens. Overall, we identified coinfections in 80% of the cases. Enteropathogens such as adenovirus (32%), enterovirus (15%), diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (1 to 14%), astrovirus (10%), Blastocystis spp. (10%), parechovirus (9%), norovirus (9%), Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium ) difficile (9%), Dientamoeba fragilis (9%), sapovirus (8%), Campylobacter jejuni (4%), and Giardia lamblia (4%) were detected. Except for a few reassortant rotavirus strains, unusual genotypes or genotype combinations were not present. However, in addition to well-known enteric viruses, divergent variants of enteroviruses and nonclassic astroviruses were identified using NGS. We estimated that in 31.5% of the patients, rotavirus was likely not the cause of gastroenteritis, and in 14.1% of the patients, it contributed together with another pathogen(s) to disease. The remaining 54.4% of the patients likely had a true vaccine breakthrough infection. The high prevalence of alternative enteropathogens in the suspected rotavirus vaccine breakthrough cases suggests that gastroenteritis is often the result of a coinfection and that rotavirus vaccine effectiveness might be underestimated in clinical and epidemiological studies.