Productivity

Productivity is defined as increasing output per unit of input. In agriculture, there are a variety of ways that productivity is discussed and measured, with much debate about the relative costs and benefits of achieving greater productivity. Productivity per plant or animal can be gained by increasing yields, for example, through breeding not simply for a larger quantity of the crop, but also for higher pest and disease resistance. Higher yields per unit of land can also be reached with more efficient cultivation practices and application of appropriate inputs. Conservation agriculture techniques, by improving soil condition, help to conserve and increase the productivity of water, by getting more “crop per drop.” Other productivity-enhancing measures come from reducing losses from inadequate post-harvest storage, from new technological solutions and using better protective techniques, such as IPM. Productivity per unit of labor is improved through the use of more efficient tools during land preparation, cultivation, and harvesting.

As the world’s population continues to grow in a context of increasingly severe short-term weather events and longer term climate change, it is critical to find sustainable solutions to increasing both total agricultural output and individual factor efficiency to maintain adequate global food supplies. Doing so in a way that allows agricultural producers to earn a living and a profit is a challenge.

Collectively, the Feed the Future Innovation Labs for Collaborative Research continue to make important contributions towards increasing agricultural productivity while raising producer incomes and improving the natural environment. A few recent examples include the work of the Pulse CRSP to combine conventional and molecular approaches with participatory farmer research to increase resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses in beans in Ecuador and Rwanda. The IPM Innovation Lab is testing ecologically-based IPM techniques to raise the productivity of high-value horticultural crops in East Africa. The SANREM Innovation Lab is working in western Kenya and eastern Uganda conservation agriculture techniques to arrest soil degradation, erosion, and potentially reverse declining yields of maize and beans. INTSORMIL has successfully launched new, higher yielding varieties of sorghum in Central America for use as cattle fodder. The AquaFish CRSP developed higher yielding sustainable rice-fish ponds in Mali.

Resources

Fisheries Stock Assessment Title XII Collaborative Research Support Program Annual Report 1985-1986

This document presents the Annual Report for the period July 1, 1985-June 30, 1986, for the Fisheries Stock Assessment Title XII Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). […]

  • Date of Publication: 1986
  • Author(s): FSA CRSP
  • Type of Document: Annual Report

AquaFish Annual Work Plan for the Transition Period 1 Aptirl 2013 to 30 September 2014

Coming soon

  • Date of Publication: 6/17/2013
  • Author(s): The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Aquaculture & Fisheries
  • Type of Document: Project Document

Cow Candy vs bmr Sorghum

Video. A comparison of sorghum varieties for silage in Panama.

  • Date of Publication: 4/18/2013
  • Author(s): INTSORMIL CRSP
  • Type of Document: Media

Ensilado de maiz vs. sorgo “bmr” en America Central

Video.

  • Date of Publication: 4/8/2013
  • Author(s): INTSORMIL CRSP
  • Type of Document: Media

Comparison of proximate composition, amino acid and fatty acid profiles in wild, pondand cage-cultured longsnout catfish (Leiocassis longirostris)

Abstract: The proximate composition, amino acid and fatty acid profiles in the fillets of wild, pond-and cage-cultured longsnout catfish (Leiocassis longirostris) were determined to identify nutritional […]

  • Date of Publication: 3/14/2013
  • Author(s): Fei Wang; Xuzhou Ma; Wu Wang; Jiyuan Liu
  • Type of Document: Scholarly Article

Open-water integrated multi-trophic aquaculture: environmental biomitigation and economic diversification of fed aquaculture by extractive aquaculture

Abstract: Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) seeks to biodiversify fed aquaculture (e.g. finfish or shrimps) with extractive aquaculture, recapturing the inorganic (e.g. seaweeds) and organic (e.g. suspension- […]

  • Date of Publication: 3/14/2013
  • Author(s): Thierry Chopin; John Andrew Cooper; Gregor Reid; Stephen Cross; Christine Moore
  • Type of Document: Scholarly Article

Research on artificial seawater quality in the Penaeus vannamei larval breeding ponds

Abstract: In order to overcome the losses caused by long-distance transportation, we try to use artificial seawater for Penaeus vannamei larval breeding locally. In 2011, we […]

  • Date of Publication: 3/14/2013
  • Author(s): Qu Rui; Jiang Min; Li Shi kai
  • Type of Document: Scholarly Article

Study on variation characteristics and correlation analysis of major ecological factors in intensive shrimp ponds

Abstract: To study the variation characteristics and correlation of major ecological factors in intensive shrimp farming ponds, we measured 16 aquatic ecological factors including the concentration […]

  • Date of Publication: 3/14/2013
  • Author(s): Chen Jinling; Lai Qiuming; Su Shuye; Ke Yangyong
  • Type of Document: Scholarly Article

Optimizing Fertilizer Use for Food Security and Economic Growth in Uganda

Video. Professor Charles Wortmann and student Jim Jansen of University Nebraska Lincoln for the INTSORMIL CRSP of USAID create a multi-crop fertilizer optimizer tool for efforts […]

  • Date of Publication: 3/5/2013
  • Author(s): INTSORMIL CRSP
  • Type of Document: Media

The Durability of BMR Sorghum

Video. Short Heinrichs of the University of Nebraska Lincoln visits, INTSORMIL research funded, BMR Sorghum fields in Honduras.

  • Date of Publication: 2/12/2013
  • Author(s): INTSORMIL CRSP
  • Type of Document: Media