Agricultural Growth and Food Supply

Pacific Island Countries (Kiribati, Fiji, Samoa, and many others) rely on fisheries and agricultural systems for their livelihood and economic development. However, the COVID-19 scenario has led to vast degradation in the agriculture supply, economy, and food security system, resulting in poverty, an increase of unemployment percentage, and a decrease in the tourism industry. The policies related to COVID-19 restrictions, such as lockdowns, access to markets and social distancing, has caused a high reduction in the income of many households. Food purchasing from vendor markets and supermarkets has decreased rapidly due to its prices. Several individuals cannot afford to buy the food items, leading to lower food supply within and outside the country. In addition, several people have been moving to rural areas due to Unemployment. They have started to perform backyard gardening small-scale farming, which again results in lower production of commercial farmers and loss of food supply to consumers. Not only Fiji, but the whole world is experiencing the same situations, which have led to the Government making innovative actions against this deadly virus to protect the citizens from this pandemic. FNPF withdrawals, farming packages, and other initiatives indulged by the Government of Fiji and other Pacific Countries are being discussed in this review. Countries have examined the effects of the Coronavirus on the agricultural system and food supply chain in Fiji and other Pacific nations.

Japan is a relative late-comer to modern economic development, and still remains the only industrialized country in Asia. These features have undoubtedly left their mark on Japanese economic growth. Recently, efforts have been made to give a clearer quantitative picture of this growth, and even though certain vague points still remain, we believe that it is now possible to provide a more thorough sectoral analysis.

The outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 restricted normal execution of agricultural extension services and movement of agricultural produce to markets. Direct farmer access to extension services was limited due to travel restrictions and banning of public gatherings. The overall objective of the study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural extension and food supply as well as the effectiveness of the suggested coping strategies in Zimbabwe. A structured questionnaire was administered to 100 Agriculture extension officers through phone interviews in adherence to the COVID-19 regulations of minimizing close contact to reduce transmission. Key informant interviews were conducted through phone calls and emails. The study revealed that agricultural extension and food supply was grossly affected by COVID-19. Use of social groups for communication during lockdown helps to reduce spread of COVID-19. Researchers recommend the development of online marketing strategies where people can make orders of various produce and become booked for purchases or deliveries during a specified time range. This will go a long way in minimizing people coming together in large numbers and risk contracting COVID-19.

The increasing number of rice product safety issues and the potential for contamination have established an enormous need for an effective strategy for the traceability of the rice supply chain. Tracing the origins of a rice product from raw materials to end customers is very complex and costly. Existing food supply chain methods (for example, rice) do not provide a scalable and cost-effective means of agricultural food supply. Besides, consumers lack the capability and resources required to check or report on the quality of agricultural goods in terms of defects or contamination. Consequently, customers are forced to decide whether to utilize or discard the goods. However, blockchain is an innovative framework capable of offering a transformative solution for the traceability of agricultural products and food supply chains. The aim of this paper is to propose a framework capable of tracking and monitoring all interactions and transactions between all stakeholders in the rice chain ecosystem through smart contracts. The model incorporates a system for customer satisfaction feedback, which enables all stakeholders to get up-to-date information on product quality, enabling them to make more informed supply chain decisions. Each transaction is documented and stored in the public ledger of the blockchain. The proposed framework provides a safe, efficient, reliable, and effective way to monitor and track rice products safety and quality especially during product purchasing. The security and performance analysis results shows that the proposed framework outperform the benchmark techniques in terms of cost-effectiveness, security and scalability with low computational overhead.

Pesticides have been a major contributor to the growth of agricultural productivity and food supply. Pesticides were a key factor in significant agricultural productivity growth during the last century and continue to be a critical factor in reducing crop damage. Fifteen insecticides were investigated to select their effective and economic doses against Hairy caterpillar in a Tossa Jute variety during April-October’ 2020 at the Department of Entomology, Manikganj and Narayanganj, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Bangladesh following Randomized Completely Block Design with three replications. All new insecticides with a standard were found effective for controlling jute hairy caterpillar giving 95.38, 94.55, 95.19, 92.85, 93.59, 94.22, 93.49, 93.62, 89.84, 95.72, 93.56, 93.38, 94.42, 95.39, 91.34 and 95.41 % at Manikganj; 95.78, 93.32, 93.97, 93.18, 92.09, 92.49, 93.74, 92.93, 92.29, 93.69, 93.95, 93.17, 95.31, 94.99, 92.11 and 94.53 % reduction of infestation at Narayanganj at 5th day after spray over control plot respectively. In Manikganj, the highest fibre yield (3.66 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Rock 20 EC and the lowest (2.96t/ha) was found in Reset 20WDG treated plot. In case of Narayanganj, the highest fibre yield (3.85 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Proxy 20 EC and the lowest (2.79t/ha) was found in Daman treated plot. These insecticides can be recommended for the farmer’s use to control jute hairy caterpillar.

Irrigation is of major importance in many countries. It is important in terms of agricultural production and food supply, the incomes of rural people, public investment for rural development, and often recurrent public expenditures for the agricultural sector. Nigeria’s irrigation system is confronted with many challenges which included a widening gap between demand for food and domestic supply as a result of population growth and changing patterns of consumption. The evaluation study was carried out at the Itoikin Irrigation Scheme using performance indices. The site is one of the irrigation projects under the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (O-ORBDA) located in the Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State. The potency and vulnerability of Itoikin Irrigation Scheme were evaluated. The physico-chemical properties of soil, soil and water inventory were used to carryout the evaluation. Soil samples were collected at different depth and taken to the laboratory for measurement and Analysis. Soil and water inventory, Crop water requirement and evapotranspiration, Irrigation scheduling for maize and rice at the scheme and Analysis of moisture content were assessed. The range of electrical conductivity (EC) is measured and the values range from 102.8 ms cm-1 to 308 ms cm-1. The lowest electrical conductivity is 102.8 ms cm-1 at F4, depth 30-45 cm while the highest is 308 ms cm-1 at F3, depth 15-30 cm. The hydraulic conductivity (k) ranges from 3.75 × 10-4 to 8.99 × 10-4 cm s-1. The lowest of the hydraulic conductivity was in F3 at depth of 25-50 cm in silt clay loam, while the highest was in F2 at depth of 25-50, in silt clay. The (EC) is too high and needs to be reduced. Root development will not pose as a problem as the bulk density will not restrict the development of the root, while the soil pH will allow the cultivation of maize, rice and vegetables. The minimum temperature ranged between 21.8ºC and 24.1ºC while the maximum temperature ranged from 28.2ºC to 33.2ºC. The average minimum and maximum temperatures are 22.8ºC and 30.8ºC respectively. The highest humidity was recorded on June (100%). The wind speed ranged between 156 km day and 207 km day and the values does not pose any adverse effect on the productivity of the crops. The evapotranspiration (ET) ranged between 2.5 mm day-1 and 4.22 mm day-1 with an average of 3.44 mm day-1. High values of evapotranspiration (ET) recorded in the months of February, March and April indicates that more water is loss during this period. The (ETcrop) and crop water requirement for maize at the scheme varied from 1.36 to 6.35 mm day-1 and 5.1 to 63.5 mm dec-1 respectively. The total amount of water consumed by the crop is 398.2 mm dec-1, while the effective rainfall was 212.2 mm dec-1 during the farming season. The total evapotranspiration is 494 mm dec-1. The crop evapotranspiration (ETcrop) and crop water requirement for rice at the scheme varied from 0.35 to 4.30 mm day-1 and 1.0 to 47.1 mm dec-1 respectively. The total amount of water consumed by the crop is 494.3 mm dec-1, while the effective rainfall was 250.3 mm dec-1 during the farming season. The total evapotranspiration is 491.9 mm dec-1. The soil moisture contents were investigated to the depth of 45 cm. The minimum and maximum values are 20.6 mm and 34.66 mm on plot 6 were recorded. Down the profile, there is an increasing trend which posed the water at the scheme to be lost by deep percolation than runoff and evaporations.

Sustainable and adjusted soil management practices are crucial for soil quality, namely in terms of the nutrient budget. On the other hand, soil characteristics are interlinked with agricultural sustainability and food supply. In other words, soil quality influences agricultural performance and food chains, but it is also impacted by agricultural activities. In this context, this research aims to evaluate the spatial correlations of the soil nutrient balance around the world and analyse how this variable is interrelated with agricultural soil emissions, agricultural output, and food supply. To achieve these goals, data from the FAOSTAT database were considered. This statistical information was analysed with spatial autocorrelation approaches to identify spatial clusters around the world that can be considered as a basis for designing common policies. To perform panel data regressions to identify marginal effects between variables, data were first evaluated using correlation matrices and factor analysis. The results highlight that there is space for common strategies worldwide to preserve soil quality, as in some parts of the world the problems are similar. In these frameworks, the international organizations may have a determinant contribution.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that a common basis for rapid growth in agricultural output and productivity lies in a remarkable adaptation of agricultural technology to the sharply contrasting factor proportions in the two countries. It is hypothesized that an important aspect of this adaptation was the ability to generate a continuous sequence of induced innovations in agricultural technology biased towards saving the limiting factors. In Japan these innovations were primarily biological and chemical. In the United States they were primarily mechanical.

Most countries satisfy domestic food consumption by importing from foreign supplies, thus highlighting the role of agricultural exports in maintaining and diversifying the global food supply. In the age of globalisation, whether the flourishing number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has been facilitating greater market access of agricultural and food products is questioned by national governments. Meanwhile, logistics performance has been the bottleneck of emerging economies, which exerts negative impacts on agricultural export competitiveness in foreign markets. Overall, the interlink between globalisation, logistics and food supply has not been addressed adequately. Therefore, this paper employs the trade gravity model to examine the relationship between agricultural exports, RTAs membership, and logistics performance in the case of Vietnam and her 97 major trading partners. Static and dynamic panel data estimation are employed with the methods applied to solving the zero trade and endogeneity concerns. Findings confirm the interlink between globalisation, logistics and food supply. RTAs-based globalisation and logistics policies are intertwined to secure and diversify import-driven food supply. The unified framework for long-term and sustainable development which aims at strengthening the interlink between globalisation, logistics, agriculture and global food supply should be considered in policy formulation.

Coronavirus disease has created an unexpected negative situation globally, impacting the agricultural sector, economy, human health, and food security. This study examined research on COVID-19 in relation to agricultural production and food security. Research articles published in Web of Science and Scopus were sourced, considering critical situations and circumstance posed by COVID-19 pandemic with regards to the shortage of agricultural production activities and threat to food security systems. In total, 174 published papers in BibTeX format were downloaded for further study. To assess the relevant documents, authors used “effects of COVID-19 on agricultural production and food security (ECAP-FS) as a search keyword for research published between 2016 and April 2021 utilising bibliometric innovative methods. The findings indicated an annual growth rate of about 56.64%, indicating that research on ECAP-FS increased over time within the study period. Nevertheless, the research output on ECAP-FS varied with 2020 accounting for 38.5%, followed by 2021 with 37.9% as at April 2021. The proposed four stage processes for merging two databases for bibliometric analyses clearly showed that one can run collaboration network analyses, authors coupling among other analyses by following our procedure and finally using net2VOSviewer, which is embedded in Rstudio software package. The study concluded that interruptions in agricultural food supply as a result of the pandemic impacted supply and demand shocks with negative impacts on all the four pillars of food security.

Cities and agriculture are fundamentally linked, yet often coevolve in a contradicting manner. On the one hand, many scholars in science and urban planning argue in favor of satisfying urban food demands through local and regional agricultural production. On the other hand, as the process of urbanization occurs, competition between agricultural and non-agricultural land use is intensifying, more often than not to the disadvantage of agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas. In order to be part of sustainable land use in an urbanizing society, studies suggest that agriculture needs to become increasingly multifunctional. However, the interplay of multifunctional agriculture (MFA), food supply systems, and urban areas is not fully understood and requires more attention. Against this background, this chapter explores the potential of MFA within short food supply chains in peri-urban areas. In particular, MFA is seen as a resource for strengthening urban agriculture and city region food systems as a sustainable development. Based on a local case study in Berlin (CSA SpeiseGut), this chapter examines innovative practices and strategies at farm level that foster multifunctionality in community-supported agriculture (CSA). The case study illustrates how multiple functions such as producing local food (production goal), delivering amenities for urban lifestyles (consumption goal), and protecting ecosystem benefits (protection goal) emerged and how they contribute to a city region food system. The chapter reveals that peri-urban farming can indeed become an integrative land-use option when developing synergies between MFA and short food supply chains. In particular, MFA can stimulate the creation of new food networks, which strengthen urban agriculture and city region food systems.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has put unprecedented stress on agricultural food. Therefore, the goal of this study is to analyze the effect of the COVID‐19 outbreak on agricultural food and provide policy recommendations based on SWOT analysis to minimize risks. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were used for this study with a thorough literature review containing policy documents and scientific magazines in the related sector. There is enough evidence to demonstrate that the COVID‐19 pandemic has had a massive influence on agricultural food supply, largely impacting food demand as well as food insecurity. The study uses SWOT analysis to identify the highest‐priority policies that may remediate the current issues. Key strategies include developing new online resources such as digitized trade and providing a digital platform to strengthen the buyer–supplier collaboration and lower the risk of food wastage and insecurity. The government should invest in technology that contributes to the sustainable flow of agricultural products along the supply chain to prevent food crises during the pandemic.

The agricultural sector, indispensable in meeting the increasing demand for food, is the main user of natural resources. Agricultural production breeds significant environmental impacts and problems both within and outside farms or agricultural holdings. This situation increases the sensitivity of the agriculture to the risks that can cause serious economic losses. Thus, unless measures are taken to solve the environmental problems arising from agricultural production, the sustainability of agricultural production and food supply even less the achievement of food and agriculture-related sustainable development goals can be seriously threatened. However, these risks and losses can be mitigated through policy reform, institutional and technological innovations. In West Africa, more than 40% of water and land resources are used for agricultural production. This makes agro-environment relations more important. This study has been carried out to reveal the major agro-environmental challenge in West Africa and to examine the current approaches and policies applied to solve these problems. In the study, data obtained from FAO agro-environmental indicators database were used as the main material. In this study, using a research methodology subdivided into two stages, the effects of agricultural activities on the environment were examined, analyzed and interpreted by comparing the agro-environmental profiles of West African countries with other OECD countries based on agro-environmental indicators. Agro-environmental policies applied to resolve agro-environmental problems in West African countries were reviewed and recommendations for sustainable agro-environmental management and also a more efficient and environmentally friendly agricultural sector were formulated for sustainable agriculture and food supply.

DR. R. E. SHADE'S evening discourse at the British Association, delivered on September 3, came well within the category of scientific contributions bearing upon social welfare, for it demonstrated the physical possibility of greatly increasing the nation's home-grown food supply, and incidentally of improving soil fertility and of helping to put the much-suffering farmer upon his financial feet. A conspicuous feature of recent agricultural progress has been the recognition of grass as a crop, and how by good management and the use of scientific methods of grass conservation, the productivity of pastures can be immensely increased. 'Early researches on grass as a food for stock were largely confined to hay, and though this form of 'bottled sunshine' is unlikely ever to disappear, the nutrients in grass can be best conserved either as ensilage or as artificially dried grass. No system of cultivating grassland can be adequate unless it takes cognizance of the reaction between the pasture herbage and the grazing animal, for by controlling the time and intensity of grazing or cutting, by judicious manuring, and by timely cultivations, a succession of palatable and nutritious herbage can be maintained throughout the grazing season, and this season can be extended at both ends, that is, in spring and in autumn. The re-discovery by Prof. T. B. Wood and Dr. H. E. Woodman of the high feeding value of leafy, young grass, and the breeding of leafy and highly nutritious strains of indigenous grasses by Prof. R. G. Stapledon and his co-workers at Aberystwyth, have opened up a vista of great possibilities for home agriculture and national food supply.

In many developing countries, a high proportion of the population resides and works in rural areas. Agriculture is the dominant sector in rural areas and has the greatest concentration of poverty: landless workers, small tenant farmers, and small farm owners. Thus, any development strategy that is directed towards increasing employment and alleviating a country's hunger must concentrate on sustainable agricultural growth. Historically, economic development in most countries has been based on exploitation of natural resources, particularly land resources. Soil erosion and land degradation have been serious worldwide. Due to reasons such as high population pressure on land and limited fossil energy supplies, land degradation is generally more serious in the developing world. Empirical studies show that soil erosion and degradation of agricultural land not only decrease the land productivity but they can also result in major downstream or off-site damage which may be several times that of on-site damage. In promoting industrialization, governments of many developing countries adopt a package of price and other policies that reduce agricultural production incentives and encourage a flow of resources out of agriculture. Increasing evidence shows that these policies cause a substantial efficiency or social welfare loss, and a great loss in foreign exchange earnings. In addition, a World Bank study on the effect of price distortions on economic growth rates concluded that neither rich resource endowments, nor a high stage of economic development, nor privatization are able to make up the adverse effects caused by high price distortions. This analysis is primarily concerned with identifying the factors that determine the agricultural production growth rate and in testing the effects these factors have on agricultural growth in developing countries. Specifically, this study involves statistical estimation of an aggregate agricultural growth function based on cross-country data for 28 developing countries. Special attention is devoted to land degradation and agricultural pricing policy, and to the policy implications resulting from the effects these variables have on agricultural and food production growth. The overall results of this study show that price distortions in the economy and land degradation had statistically significant negative impacts while the change in arable and permanent land was positively related to the growth of agricultural production and food production in 28 developing countries from 1971 to 1980. These results emphasize the importance of ‘getting prices right’ and implementation of sustainable land and water management practices if future growth in food and agricultural output is to be realized and sustained in developing countries.