Search Results (9)

Agriculture is a critical foundation for the development of large-scale complex and urban societies. Sanxingdui, located on the Chengdu Plain in western Sichuan and linked with the ancient Chinese Shu Kingdom, is one of the most distinctive archaeological sites in the world. However, despite its importance, the agricultural economy of the Sanxingdui culture and the Chengdu Plain remains poorly understood and heavily debated. This study synthesizes recent archaeological and historical evidence concerning the agricultural economy underpinning the increasing scale and social complexity at Sanxingdui and the greater Chengdu Plain prior to 2200 BP. Our analysis finds a mixed rice and dry-land millet farming economy, in conjunction with pig and chicken husbandry, during the Sanxingdui culture (3700–3100 BP). This integrated agricultural system likely began with the Baodun culture (4500–3700 BP), passing to the Sanxingdui culture (3700–3100 BP), Shierqiao culture (3100–2600 BP) and later, the Shu culture (2600–2300 BP). In addition, although gathering, hunting, and fishing accounted for relatively low proportions of the overall subsistence, the ancient peoples at Sanxingdui and across the Chengdu Plain continued these practices, supporting a diverse agricultural and food system. Understanding the subsistence at Sanxingdui offers key insights into the development of complex societies in southwest China, the contributions to Chinese culture, and the role of agriculture worldwide. Full article

The first millennium BC saw the expansion of the Western Zhou dynasty in its northwestern frontier, alongside the rise and development of the Qin State in the Longshan Mountain region of northern China. Exploring the subsistence practices of these communities is crucial to gaining a better understanding of the social, cultural, and political landscape in this region at the time. While much of the research to date has focused on the Qin people, the subsistence practices of the Zhou people remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed animal remains from Yucun, a large settlement site associated with the Zhou people, located to the east of the Longshan Mountain. These animal remains were recovered in the excavation seasons of 2018–2020. Our results show that pigs, dogs, cattle, caprines, and horses, which were the major domestic animals at Yucun, accounted for over 90.8% of the animal remains examined in terms of the number of identified specimens (NISP) and 72.8% in terms of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), with cattle and caprines playing dominant roles. In terms of the taxonomic composition and the mortality profiles of pigs, caprines, and cattle, Yucun shared similarities with Maojiaping and Xishan, two contemporaneous Qin cultural sites located to the west of the Longshan Mountain, and differ from other farming societies in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River valley. Considering the cultural attributes and topographic conditions of these various sites, these findings imply that environmental conditions may have played a more significant role than cultural factors in shaping the animal-related subsistence practices in northern China during the first millennium BC. Full article

Food supply has been a constant source of concern for mankind. In the present context, with food security a priority of European and national policies, an analysis of pig farming in a representative NUTS2 administrative level of Romania that emphasizes the proportion of households raising at least one pig and the main factors influencing farmers to adopt or give up swine breeding could allow a much clearer understanding of this phenomenon that lies at the border between cultural tradition and socio-economic necessity. This study uses mixed methods that complement each another to help reveal this complex phenomenon in the analyzed territory. Cluster analysis shows the concentration of swine breeding and maps its spread in terms of both subsistence and larger farms, and qualitative interviews prove the motivation of farmers to continue in this occupation. As a primary result, the study visualizes the spatial distribution of pig farming in the rural environment of Vâlcea county, Romania, from a diachronic perspective in the post-communist period. It also reveals areas of differing concentrations of both very small-sized farms, which prioritize meeting their own food needs, and larger farms, which prioritize commercial production to supplement their revenue streams. Both categories, but particularly the latter, are of particular interest in a period in which the socio-economic environment after 1990—marked by economic restructuring, unemployment, population migration, the economic crisis of 2008–2010, the pandemic of 2020–2021, and the most recent energy crisis—periodically highlights the importance of rural areas in ensuring food security and sufficiency at both the local and regional levels. Full article

African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs has, since its discovery in Africa more than a century ago, been associated with subsistence pig keeping with low levels of biosecurity. Likewise, smallholder and backyard pig farming in resource-limited settings have been notably affected during the ongoing epidemic in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Caribbean regions. Many challenges to managing ASF in such settings have been identified in the ongoing as well as previous epidemics. Consistent implementation of biosecurity at all nodes in the value chain remains most important for controlling and preventing ASF. Recent research from Asia, Africa, and Europe has provided science-based information that can be of value in overcoming some of the hurdles faced for implementing biosecurity in resource-limited contexts. In this narrative review we examine a selection of these studies elucidating innovative solutions such as shorter boiling times for inactivating ASF virus in swill, participatory planning of interventions for risk mitigation for ASF, better understanding of smallholder pig-keeper perceptions and constraints, modified culling, and safe alternatives for disposal of carcasses of pigs that have died of ASF. The aim of the review is to increase acceptance and implementation of science-based approaches that increase the feasibility of managing, and the possibility to prevent, ASF in resource-limited settings. This could contribute to protecting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods that depend upon pigs and enable small-scale pig production to reach its full potential for poverty alleviation and food security. Full article

Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are a significant invasive species in Brazil. We evaluated the helminth diversity of 96 wild boars in São Paulo state. Helminth infection descriptors were calculated, the species were identified and their 18S, 28S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were amplified for phylogenetic analyses. Ascarops strongylina, Strongyloides ransomi, Globocephalus urosubulatus, Oesophagostomum dentatum, Trichuris suis, Metastrongylus salmi, Metastrongylus pudendotecus, Ascaris suum and Stephanurus dentatus and Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus were identified. Globocephalus urosubulatus had the highest prevalence and mean abundance, and most animals had mixed infections with three parasite species. There was no association between parasite intensity and prevalence and host sex and body condition index (p > 0.05). Novel DNA sequences were obtained from G. urosubulatus, A. strongylina, and S. dentatus. This is the first study on the helmint diversity of non-captive wild boars in Brazil, and the first report of the occurrence of M. hirudinaceus, G. urosubulatus and S. dentatus in Brazilian wild boars. Non-captive wild boars of São Paulo State did not act as capture hosts for native helminth species but maintained their typical parasites, common to domestic pigs. They may act as parasite dispersers for low-tech subsistence pig farming and for native Tayassuidae. Full article

The Taihu Lake region is an important area where China’s rice agriculture originated and where early Chinese civilisation formed. Knowing how this ecologically sensitive area’s Neolithic residents adapted to environmental changes and utilised natural resources is key to understanding the origins of their agricultural practices and civilisation. Focusing on food resources, we systematically organised data from archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological research, human bone stable isotopic analyses, and fatty acid and proteome residue analyses on the Taihu Lake area’s Neolithic findings to explore the interrelationships between subsistence, the environment, and society through qualitative and quantitative analysis supported by paleoenvironmental and archaeological evidence. The results showed that during the Neolithic era (7.0–4.3 ka BP), under a suitable climate with stable freshwater wetland environments, 38 varieties of edible animals and plants were available to humans in the Taihu Lake area. Despite agriculture being an important food source, rice cultivation and husbandry developed at different paces. Paddy rice cultivation began in wetlands and had always dominated the subsistence economy, as although gathering was universal and diverse, it produced a relatively low volume of food. In contrast, husbandry did not provide sufficient meat throughout the 2000 years of the Majiabang and Songze Cultures. Thus, fishing for freshwater organisms and hunting for wild mammals were the main meat sources before the domestication of pigs became the primary source of meat during the Liangzhu Cultural period. With the available wetland ecological resources and paddy rice farming (the sole crop), the Taihu Lake area transformed into an agricultural society in which rice cultivation dominated the Songze Culture’s subsistence economy, which was also the first to exhibit social complexity. Then, finally, early civilisation developed in the Liangzhu Cultural period. This study contributes to understanding the unique evolutionary path of early Chinese civilisation and has important implications on sustainable resource utilisation for constructing ecological civilisations in present-day societies. Full article

The spectacular recent spread of African swine fever (ASF) in Eastern Europe and Asia has been strongly associated, as it is in the endemic areas in Africa, with free-ranging pig populations and low-biosecurity backyard pig farming. Managing the disease in wild boar populations and in circumstances where the disease in domestic pigs is largely driven by poverty is particularly challenging and may remain so even in the presence of effective vaccines. The only option currently available to prevent ASF is strict biosecurity. Among small-scale pig farmers biosecurity measures are often considered unaffordable or impossible to implement. However, as outbreaks of ASF are also unaffordable, the adoption of basic biosecurity measures is imperative to achieve control and prevent losses. Biosecurity measures can be adapted to fit smallholder contexts, culture and costs. A longer-term approach that could prove valuable particularly for free-ranging pig populations would be exploitation of innate resistance to the virus, which is fully effective in wild African suids and has been observed in some domestic pig populations in areas of prolonged endemicity. We explore available options for preventing ASF in terms of feasibility, practicality and affordability among domestic pig populations that are at greatest risk of exposure to ASF. Full article

Rural life in México has changed drastically over the past several decades in the wake of structural reforms in the 1980s and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) implemented in 1994. Researchers predicted dire consequences for smallholder farmers following trade liberalization and in certain respects the prophecies have been fulfilled. Indeed, many regions experienced significant out-migration as smallholders, unable to compete with global maize imports without price subsidies, sold or abandoned their lands, making way for the expansion of industrial agriculture into forests, secondary vegetation and primary crops. Nevertheless, many smallholders have adapted to the new economic environment with farming systems that manage risk by diversifying portfolios to incorporate commercialized maize and livestock production. This article examines the evolution of smallholder farming systems since the mid 1980s, when the impact of neoliberal reforms emerged, using data collected from field research on 130 smallholder farms in the Pátzcuaro Lake Watershed (PLW) in the State of Michoacán. Farmers in the PLW have been characterized as traditional peasant farmers, planting crops for subsistence, including a diverse array of domestic maize varieties and practicing limited animal husbandry with chickens, turkeys, pigs, an oxen and a cow or two for milk. But the results presented in this article show that the traditional peasant farming systems in the region have changed substantially to a highly diversified agriculture-cattle-forest system. Most notable changes include the use of fertilizers and pesticides; and the increase in livestock herd and reorientation to beef production. The results demonstrate the resilience of smallholder farmers, while at the same time raising potential concern that increased reliance on livestock and beef production specialization, might lead to shifts in farming systems that replace domestic maize varieties with hybrid corn used primarily for animal feed and thereby leaving vulnerable the genetic reservoir of traditional maize landraces. Full article