The Hour Of Land

Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

This study reviews the evolution of agricultural mechanization, particularly tractors, in India. In doing so, it provides some rough indicators of the extent of mechanization (particularly the spread of tractor use) at different historical phases, emphasizing that India’s experiences up to 1990 are as important as the lessons since then. The paper highlights the growth of diverse patterns of custom-hiring service provision, as well as heterogeneity in the speed of mechanization growth across regions and agroecological zones. It also summarizes the evolution of key related policies in India that are likely to have affected tractor imports, supply, financing, manufacturing, and related inputs such as fuel and electricity.

Tuten shows how the Jewish National Fund (JNF) proved to be flexible in its fundraising to obtain its land-purchase objectives during the Second World War. He provides a detailed examination of the Jewish National Fund's internal development and analyses the relationship between JNF's finances and land purchase priorities. A valuable addition to recent re-evaluations of Israeli history and institutions, this book will be of interest to those researching Palestinian history, Jewish and Israeli history and the history of the modern Middle East.

Publisher Description

Paddle the Capital!

A short fiction collection of characters, caught in a variety of human circumstances, making some outstandingly bad decisions. A labourer enjoys new-found popularity among his co-workers after losing several fingers in a work accident, and in the face of returning invisibility, makes a desperate decision; a man on an ill-conceived vacation decides to stay in a hot tub all day and all night, rather than face his disintegrating family. Some descriptions of violence. Some descriptions of sex. Some strong language. 2006.