Optimization of high-density planting configurations for poovan banana (Musa spp.) in coconut-based agroforestry system of the Cauvery delta zone of India

Bananas (Musa spp.) are a crucial global agricultural commodity, playing a vital role in tropical agroecosystems. The Poovan cultivar demonstrates high productivity and adaptability in coconut-based agroforestry systems. This study investigates the influence of planting geometries on crop performance in the Cauvery delta zone, assessing five spatial configurations (2.1 × 2.1 m to 0.9 × 0.9 m) across morphological, physiological and economic parameters. Results indicate that wider spacing (2.1 × 2.1 m) significantly enhances leaf morphological traits, yielding maximum leaf length (148.17 cm), breadth (77.75 cm) and a Leaf Area Index (LAI) of 2.61 m²/plant. Fruit quality is also improved, with increased bunch weights (16 kg), larger fruit dimensions (20 cm length), higher sugar content (22 Brix) and greater firmness (4.5 kg/cm²). Conversely, denser spacing increases plant population per unit area but results in reduced individual plant growth and fruit quality. Economic analysis reveals that the 1.5 × 1.5 m spacing is the most cost-effective, achieving a benefit-cost ratio of 1.14, optimizing yield and revenue potential. These findings highlight the complex relationship between plant density, resource allocation and productivity in tropical agricultural systems. By identifying optimal planting geometries, this study provides practical recommendations for sustainable intensification in coconut-based agroforestry, maximizing land use efficiency while ensuring high-quality banana production. Optimizing spacing helps maximize land productivity, improve microclimate and ensure sustainable farm income. Banana intercropping in coconut gardens is a viable practice to enhance land productivity and farmer income. However, appropriate spacing (2.1 m x 2.1 m) is crucial to minimize resource competition and maximize returns. Continued research and extension services can help optimize these systems for diverse agro-ecological zones. The results offer a valuable framework for improving productivity and economic resilience, aiding farmers in making informed decisions to enhance profitability best economic returns often come from spacing like 2.1 m x 2.1m, balancing yield and input cost in integrated farming systems

Introduction: cultures of resistance in Asia’s transforming cities

The convergence of global capital, technology and labour flows together with the efforts of Asian nation-states vying to position their cities as major nodes in the global economy is bringing about new challenges and opportunities in these urban centres. This is generating what Burawoy (2000) calls a ‘transformative crisis’ in urban space, in that cities which mediate global economic activity and the movement of goods, capital, technology and people, are doing so under conditions of disparity and segmentation (Knox 2002, Sassen 2005), fracturing urban landscapes into new enclaves of spatial and economic inequality, disrupting former frames of reference and spaces of order within the city. Overt opposition to these transformations has come from various perspectives: from political groups, NGOs and activists. This chapter, however, aims to introduce a series of essays that document these contemporary processes of urban transition from the perspective of everyday resistance, giving voice to the experiences of lives embedded and implicated in these processes, and exploring how ordinary inhabitants of Asia’s transforming cities are responding and actively intervening in urban and social change

Precarious experiences of Indians in Australia on 457 temporary work visas

The study of temporary skilled migration in Australia is relatively new. As a rapidly emerging source of labour and settlers for Australia's immigration programme, temporary skilled migration will have a major and potentially long-lasting impact on Australia. Since the mid-1990s, temporary skilled migration (under the subclass 457 visa programme) has overtaken permanent migration to Australia. India is now the largest and fastest growing source of temporary skilled migrants. This is a major new development in Australian migration history; yet, to date, there has been little qualitative research into the subjective experiences, motivations and settlement patterns of Indian temporary skilled migrants in Australia, from the perspective of the migrant. This article presents findings from a 3-year qualitative study on the experiences of temporary skilled migrants from India living and working in Australia. It argues that many of the quantitative studies on this topic fail to offer a nuanced reading of these workers' experiences in Australia, in particular, their situations of vulnerability engendered by the recruitment process, visa conditions, unlawful employment practices and living arrangements.22 page(s

Responding to globalization : nation, culture and identity in Singapore

Focuses on the globalisation nexus in Singapore: the tensions between the necessity to embrace the global to ensure economic survival and the need for a committed population to support the perpetuation of the nation-state and its economic success.Introduction: Globalization and the nation-state -- 1. The making of the Singapore nation-state and the quest for a national identity -- Imagining Singapore: from colony to nationhood -- Developing the Singapore nation: strategies and policies of nation-building -- The question of national identity in the academic literature -- Internationalizing Singapore: nationhood and its connections elsewhere -- 2. The rhetoric of Asian values and the embracing of a "New Asian" identity -- Economy, identity, modernity, ambivalence: for functions of Asian values in Singapore -- 3. Creating national citizens for a global city -- The next lap: building the global city 1991-1997 -- 4. Re-branding Singapore: cosmopolitan cultural and urban redevelopment in a global city-state -- Cosmpolitanizing national culture: recent cultural policy trends in Singapore -- Managing and branding: evaluating Singapore's vision for a cosmopolitan global city -- Nationhood and the dilemmas of the cosmopolitan city-state -- 5. At "home" in a globalized city-state? -- Affect, identity and the nateriality of nation -- The contradictions of Singaporean social modernity -- Managerial speak and governmental forms of belonging -- Singapore and the gift of social life

Affect, materiality, and the gift of social life in Singapore

This paper draws on research data gathered from an Internet discussion forum, e-mail survey, and newspaper report to examine the question of national identity and belonging in Singapore. It considers how Singaporean citizens relate to the kinds of discourses on national identity presented by the government and articulate their experiences and sense of belonging to the Singapore nation. It argues that the government's approach to nation building based on economic developmentalism and survivalism has created an ambivalent and tenuous relationship of mutual obligation between the individual and the nation-state. It is therefore crucial that the basis of national identity is dislodged from the ideology of survivalism if an ethical practice of obligation/reciprocity is to emerge.27 page(s

Home/hotel : managing the challenge of globalisation

5 page(s