Food Security Challenges Research Articles

Smart Strategies for Increasing Crop Productivity through Clonal Propagation

Clonal propagation, a technique widely used in agriculture, offers promising opportunities to enhance crop productivity and address the challenges of food security. This article presents smart strategies for maximizing crop yields through clonal propagation methods. It explores innovative approaches, advanced technologies, and key considerations for successful implementation. The article delves into the potential benefits of clonal propagation, such as genetic purity, uniformity, and disease resistance. Furthermore, it discusses emerging trends in clonal propagation research and their implications for sustainable agriculture.

The CGIAR needs a revolution

The CGIAR is a unique scientific organization that seeks to improve food security for low-income people. It should be leading efforts to generate sustainable productivity gains in agriculture, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where productivity lags. However, its current ill-adapted priorities and structure, its obsession with re-organizations, and its unproductive ventures into local development projects have reduced its impact and rendered it unable to respond to the challenge of food security under climate change. The system's efforts have become too diffuse and ineffective while attempts to revive impact through repeated re-organizations have failed. The CGIAR has unique strengths: access to plant germplasm, know-how to improve germplasm and agronomic practices, global networks of experimental sites and research collaborators, and excellent staff. The CGIAR's scientists are highly motivated, but leaders and funders of the system have failed to support them with a simple, focused, and better funded operational environment needed to succeed in their research – and have greater impact from it. This can be corrected. We propose a scientific and problem-driven focus on fewer global and regional research priorities, supported by adequate long-term funding, rigorous methods of project evaluation, and management that stimulates innovation and seeks verifiable results. These supports do not exist today and we do not see that the current One CGIAR system will provide them in the foreseeable future.

Exploring Food-Based Cultural Practices to Address Food Insecurity in Rural Appalachia.

Health behaviors, like diet, are influenced by a person's culture and the society where they reside, contributing to the presence of health disparities within a unique region. Such disparities are evident in Central Appalachia where a unique cultural identity exists. Culture-based initiatives focused on improving food security and other nutritional challenges have had success in other diverse groups, yet similar interventions considering geographically tied culture, like Appalachia, are limited. This study aims to identify specific aspects of Appalachian culture that address food insecurity to inform future initiatives that may improve adult dietary habits and food security status. Qualitative data were collected from five focus groups in one rural Central Appalachian community in 2021 (n=59). Data were analyzed using Grounded Theory Approach. Four primary themes related to culture and food insecurity emerged: 1) Community decline and economic hardship 2) Shifts in multigenerational food traditions 3) Response to limited food access and 4) Community decline and economic hardship. Participants revealed adaptations they have made in the face of geographic isolation and poverty and the pride they take in providing for themselves and one another. These findings indicate the people of Appalachia are unknowingly leveraging cultural practices to address food insecurity, yet the impact of these practices on nutritional status remains unknown. These results have implications for future studies and interventions in Appalachia which may have greater success by accounting for cultural influences compared to traditional approaches for reducing food insecurity in the region.

Integrating multi-influencing factor techniques and fuzzy methods to identify recommendation domains for out-scaling conservation agriculture in China

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a global development strategy aimed to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. Expanding the implementation of conservation agriculture (CA), a vital component of CSA, is essential for enhancing agricultural and food security resilience while sustainably managing arable land. However, the extensive heterogeneity of biophysical and socioeconomic conditions presents significant complexities in promoting CA adoption. Addressing these challenges, this study carried out a comprehensive theoretical investigation of biophysical and socioeconomic factors influencing CA adoption and performance, integrating stakeholder feedback to create a systematic and robust evaluation index system for assessing CA suitability. By integrating multi-influencing factor techniques and fuzzy logic methods, we spatially identified suitable areas for CA implementation in China, providing valuable insights for land use policy. The reliability of the models was verified through a sensitivity analysis using the map removal sensitivity analysis method and the extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test. The results indicated that 29.78% of the cultivated land was unsuitable or marginally suitable for CA, while 29.30 and 40.92% were determined to be moderately suitable and suitable zones, respectively. Suitable cultivated land was primarily distributed in the northern arid and semi-arid regions, the Loess Plateau, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, and the Northeast China Plain. Conversely, unsuitable, and marginally suitable cultivated land was predominantly located in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, Middle-lower Yangtze Plain, Sichuan Basin and surrounding areas, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and Southern China. The topographical index, annual mean precipitation, humidity index, and population density were identified as the most significant factors influencing CA suitability. The CA suitability maps generated in this study will guide the development and extension agents targeting CA to suitable locations with a high potential impact, thereby maximizing the likelihood of adoption and minimizing the risk of failure.

Down (my) Memory Lane: Has Economic Analysis Impacted CAP Reforms?

SummaryThis article elaborates the role of economic analysis in influencing the reform path of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) between 1992 and 2022 on the basis of publicly available information from a personal career experience in the European Commission. Analyses about the trade distorting impact of the pre‐1992 CAP were dominant in influencing the internal Commission debate before the Uruguay Agreement on Agriculture, and were mostly external from academia and international organisations. Developments leading to the Fischler reform in 2003 led to the broadening of analytical scope to cover the impact of food safety issues on market developments, non‐tariff barriers to trade, or alternative scenarios about an enlarged EU based on the increasing use of internal and external models. Evaluations and Impact Assessments played a major role in assessing options for CAP reforms after 2007, with the increasing role of NGOs and think tanks gradually shifting the analytical and policy focus in identifying CAP weaknesses in its environmental delivery. The new institutional reality of co‐decision complicated the link between analysis and policy decision making. However, though economic analysis is clearly not sufficient, it is still necessary and essential to jointly address the twin challenges of food security and climate change.

HydroLab: A Module for the Investigation of Fertigation Strategies in Hydroponics

In recent times, hydroponics has gained popularity as a viable solution to the challenges facing traditional agriculture, as it offers an environmentally friendly option with higher crop yields and improved quality, eliminating the need for soil. Despite these benefits, hydroponics still encounters significant difficulties, particularly in optimizing fertigation strategies. The literature contains several studies focusing on test benches for investigating technological recommendations related to fertigation strategies. However, there has been no proposed test bench capable of simultaneously exploring various types of fertigation strategies. In this work, HydroLab is introduced: a hydroponic module that allows for the simultaneous comparison of two types of fertigation strategies and enables remote monitoring and control through IoT functionality. Additionally, HydroLab’s potential to generate technological recommendations has been validated through a case study comparing time-based and solar radiation-based fertigation in lettuce cultivation. The case study successfully showcases the capability of HydroLab to investigate and compare different fertigation strategies. Given the global importance of food security challenges, this work is expected to contribute to the investigation of fertigation strategies in hydroponics.

Assessing Genetic Variation among Strychnos spinosa Lam. Morphotypes Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers.

Strychnos spinosa Lam., commonly known as green monkey orange, is a highly valued indigenous fruit tree in South Africa with potential for domestication and commercialization. However, no study has reported on the molecular diversity of Strychnos spinosa morphotypes. Therefore, this study aimed to determine genetic variation among 32 Strychnos spinosa morphotypes using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Fourteen amplified SSR markers produced 159 alleles, with a mean of 5.68 per locus. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.22 (Ssp_1) to 0.84 (Ssp_6). Morphotypes were clustered in a biplot based on their genetic distances. The dendrogram chiefly discriminated morphotypes according to variation of pericarp texture. The population structure had the highest delta value K = 3, thus the 32 morphotypes were divided into three subpopulations based on the Bayesian approach. The affinities produced by the population structure agreed with the genetic distance of closely related morphotypes. This study is the first to report on SSR marker development and their successful use for genetic diversity and population structure studies of Strychnos spinosa. It provides insights into the molecular characterisation of Strychnos spinosa. This can lead to breeding programs and crop improvement programs, particularly in varietal developmental programs, which can contribute to alleviating food security challenges.

The Characteristics and Utilization of Pekarangan Pangan Lestari to Achieve Urban Food Security in Depok City, West Java

The main challenge for urban food security is a public policy perspective that considers food security only from a rural lens and agricultural activities in the cities are appraised to have no place. In dealing with that challenge, the local government of Depok City has developed a local urban food system program called Pekarangan Pangan Lestari (P2L) in Bojongsari Sub-district. The existence of P2L influenced the increase of Depok City's food security score by 1.68 within 5 years and placed Depok City as the 10th city with the highest food security index in Indonesia. This study aims to document the characteristics and utilization of P2L in the Bojongsari Sub-district. The research was conducted using in- depth interviews with 30 people and field observation in 33 P2L. The area of Pekarangan Pangan Lestari (P2L) in the Bojongsari Sub-district can be found in the villages of Duren Seribu, Duren Mekar, Pondok Petir, and Serua, is categorized as moderate and narrow, and managed by the Women Farmers group. P2L functions as living barns (lumbung hidup), living stalls (warung hidup), living pharmacies (apotek hidup), nurseries, livestock, and fisheries. A total of 92 species belonging to 86 genera and 47 families were identified in Bojongsari Sub-district. These plants have been used by the society in Bojongsari Sub-district as a source of medicine, vegetables, spices, herbs, vitamins, and carbohydrates as much as 55%, 17%, 10, 9, 8,17, respectively. Besides, there are several animals raised in P2L such as chickens, goats, and catfish.

The invasive fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, in Africa and Asia: responding to the food security challenge, with priorities for integrated pest management research

The invasive fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, in Africa and Asia: responding to the food security challenge, with priorities for integrated pest management research

Research on the International Sustainable Practice of the Taiwanese Food and Agricultural Education Law under the Current Global Food Security Challenges.

On 19 April 2022, in order to overcome a succession of recent global food health and agriculture safety (FHAS) incidents, the Taiwanese government instituted and announced 20 comprehensive Articles under the Taiwanese Food and Agricultural Education Law (TFAEL) for regulating the Taiwanese FHAS in order to completely construct the international strategies under the current global food security challenges of the FAHS. As a result, this research study firstly employs the learning community model (LCM) of the learning theory to measure the implementing depth of the international sustainability practice of the 20 Articles of the Taiwanese FHASE from a learning performance analytical perspective. Then, the social learning theory (SLT) of the educational theory is applied to consolidate the individual behaviors of the relative stakeholders, the organizational management of the relative industries and the socialized consent of the multilateral organization performance assessment network (MOPAN) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN). After completing quantitative and qualitative analyses, the two most valuable conclusions and findings were as follows: (1) Not only Article 12, but also Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the new law can empirically facilitate strategic management for supporting and promoting the Taiwanese FHAS educational policy dialogue at a global, regional and country scale in order to effectively advance the international sustainable compatibility of the TFAEL. (2) Articles 6, 11 and 16 of the new law can completely construct operational management for building normative and standard-setting Taiwanese FHAS educational works in order to efficiently advance the international sustainable compatibility of the TFAEL. Therefore, beyond the analytical results of this research, the international sustainable compatibility of the TFAEL provides a direction for the development of sustainable food systems, food policies, agricultural food markets and food chains in order to overcome the various contemporary global food security challenges.

Agricultural Cultivation Structure in Arid Areas Based on Water–Carbon Nexus—Taking the Middle Reaches of the Heihe River as an Example

China faces challenges of food security and sustainable agricultural production. However, current studies rarely address the spatial distribution patterns of water consumption and carbon emissions. We studied the irrigation water use efficiency and carbon emission differences of crops in arid areas and their spatial distribution using wheat and maize, two major food crops in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, as examples. Furthermore, we have optimized low-carbon cropping of crops under the multiple objectives of water conservation and economic development. The results show that: (1) The carbon emissions per unit of water consumption for maize are 0.03 × 10−6 t mm−1 and 0.49 × 10−6 t mm−1 for wheat. Irrigation water consumption per unit yield is 515.6 mm t−1 for maize and 426.7 mm t−1 for wheat. (2) The spatial distribution patterns of irrigation water consumption were opposites for maize and wheat. The former has lower irrigation water consumption in the planting area upstream of the Heihe River and higher in the lower reaches. In contrast, the pattern of wheat irrigation is the opposite. (3) After optimizing the cropping mix for both crops, the area planted with wheat should be reduced to 59% of the current size, while maize should be expanded to 104%. The results of the research hold immense importance in guiding the future grain crop planting patterns for water-saving agriculture and low-carbon agriculture development in arid zones worldwide, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Consumer acceptance of precision fermentation technology: A cross-cultural study

Technological advances in precision fermentation hold great potential for transformative changes in the agri-food system, addressing crucial environmental and food security challenges. However, the successful adoption of this technology hinges on consumer acceptance, which plays a pivotal role in determining its market success. To shed light on consumer acceptance of precision fermentation technology, three studies were conducted. Study 1 found that adopting natural (vs. sustainable) framing positively influenced acceptance (N = 308). Study 2 revealed that the information supporting use of representative heuristic can effectively enhance technology acceptance (N = 300). Furthermore, Study 3 proposed and tested the technology acceptance model in a cross-cultural setting (N = 3032), indicating that when prompting similarity to traditional fermentation positively influenced consumer perceptions. This further fosters higher levels of trust and perceived benefits, significantly impacting consumer acceptance and intention to purchase new products derived from precision fermentation technology. These insights emphasize the critical role of consumer acceptance in driving the adoption and market success of precision fermentation.

Reducing energy consumption without compromising food security: the imperative that could transform agriculture

Abstract The imperative of carbon neutrality requires a drastic, rapid, and sustained reduction in fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The Russia-Ukraine war has led to a major energy crisis, whose end does not seem imminent. The sudden and major increase in energy prices resulting from this crisis has major impacts on many sectors of the societies. This is especially true for agriculture, a direct consumer of energy that also has considerable indirect consumption through the manufacture, transport, and distribution of chemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Taking the example of France, from July 2021 to July 2022, farmers were challenged with price increases as high as 48% and 111% for energy and fertilizers, respectively (Agreste, 2022). At the global scale, in 2018, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil energy consumption in agriculture represented 0.9 Pg CO2 eq. (against 9.3 Pg CO2 eq. due to agriculture, excluding emissions due to this energy consumption) and those emissions have increased by 23% since 2000 (FAO, 2020). 
This context calls for in-depth transformation of agriculture, which is currently overly dependent on non-renewable energy in high-income economies. While research on the subject continues to grow (Box 1), this large body of work focuses more on assessing the energy consumption of current agricultural systems using multiple metrics (Box 2) than on developing supply- or demand-side alternatives that use less energy. In response to these trends, Ramankutty and Dowlatabadi (2021) suggested pathways to sustainable food systems. However, while their recommendations included energy reduction options on the food consumption side, their focus on farming practices was restricted to improving the energy efficiency of current agricultural systems and missed the necessary redesign of farming and food systems.
In this article, we look back to understand how agricultural systems came to progressively depend on non-renewable energy. We then briefly review agricultural practices and systems reducing energy consumption without compromising energy efficiency. Finally, we propose future research avenues to explore pathways for reducing energy consumption without compromising food security and sustainability challenges.

Spatial Distribution Pattern, Evolution and Influencing Mechanism of Ecological Farms in China

Nowadays, the challenges of energy depletion, environmental pollution and food security caused by extensive agriculture development are attracting global attention. In China, the construction of ecological farms is a key initiative to effectuate the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, contributing to high-quality agricultural development. Based on this, this study selects the national-level ecological farms directories issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China in 2021 and 2022, and collects the corresponding economic, social and physical geographic data for GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector. The results are as follows: (1) The distribution of ecological farms in various provinces of China is uneven and spatially clustered. It generally presents a ‘high in the east and low in the west with concentrated cores’ pattern. The construction scope significantly expanded over time, and the high-value areas of nuclear density are concentrated in East China, with the development core transitioned from East China to Central China. (2) Environmental conditions, industrial foundation, economic and social development level, science and technology level and financial support all significantly affect the spatial distribution of ecological farms in China, among which the science and technology level has the most significant enhancement effect on other factors. (3) Environmental conditions provide the construction basis for ecological farms, while economic and social development level and financial support determine the number of ecological farms. The industrial foundation affects the scale of ecological farms in China, while the level of science and technology eliminates the restrictions of other factors to a certain extent. This study provides a reference for optimizing the spatial distribution pattern of ecological farms in China and promoting ecological agriculture. In addition, it presents a viable approach to safeguarding food security.

Mapping food security in Arkansas

Various assessments measure food security through a resource-oriented approach. Some scholars have noted that these measurements fall short by overlooking quality of life issues and pose that a capability-based approach could provide a fuller portrayal of food insecurity. A capability-based approach and its focus on personal capability and the ability to function fully may offer insights into identifying and measuring food security (Burchi & De Muro, 2016). This study assessed and mapped food insecurity through current county-based assessments. Food insecurity was then evaluated and mapped through a capability approach lens. Current food security in Arkansas was then explored and compared through existing food security assessments and a newly developed assessment based on a capability-based approach. This study indicated that the traditional Feeding America assessment overlooks quality of life measures, impacts, and conditions. Economic indicators provided one perspective, but the capability-based approach included a broader understanding of the options available to leaders and individuals within the community. Measuring food security through a capability-based lens allowed a more robust understanding of food insecurity beyond resource or economic indicators. This understanding could bridge the gap between economic conditions and social well-being and add a new perspective to understanding the actual condition of a population concerning food security. This study contributes to the operationalism of the capability approach as the theoretical basis for a food security assessment instrument and its use for identifying communities facing food security challenges.

ASSESSMENT OF THE EXTENT OF POST-HARVEST LOSSES ALONG THE CASSAVA VALUE CHAIN IN ANAMBRA STATE

Addressing food security challenges is vital to the future of Africans and Nigerians. Despite the economic importance of cassava to the teaming populace in Nigeria, it is not devoid of post-harvest losses. This study explored the extent of post-harvest losses along the cassava value chain in Anambra State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and was conducted in Anambra State in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria. The study population comprises all cassava farmers in the state's four Agricultural Zones (AZs): Onitsha, Aguata, Awka, and Anambra. Multistage, purposive, and random sampling techniques will be used to select the respondents for the study. Primary data was used for the study and collected using a well-structured questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Shannon's diversity index, and the Tobit regression model based on the study's objectives. The study revealed that the size of cassava postharvest loss is 266,116 kg. The chain of highest loss is at harvesting, which accounts for about 55 % of the total loss, followed by the loss at processing, 33 %, and then a loss at distribution, 12 %. The Tobit regression result of the factors responsible for cassava post-harvest loss shows that poor processing skills, farmers' well-being, poor planning, and pest and disease attacks are the significant factors determining cassava post-harvest loss in the study area. The study, therefore, recommends that policies be implemented to help the farmers reduce the losses, especially by enforcing adequate training of local farmers in cassava processing.

Towards improving prediction accuracy and user-level explainability using deep learning and knowledge graphs: A study on cassava disease

Food security is currently a major concern due to the growing global population, the exponential increase in food demand, the deterioration of soil quality, the occurrence of numerous diseases, and the effects of climate change on crop yield. Sustainable agriculture is necessary to solve this food security challenge. Disruptive technologies, such as of artificial intelligence, especially, deep learning techniques can contribute to agricultural sustainability. For example, applying deep learning techniques for early disease classification allows us to take timely action, thereby helping to increase the yield without inflicting unnecessary environmental damage, such as excessive use of fertilisers or pesticides. Several studies have been conducted on agricultural sustainability using deep learning techniques and also semantic web technologies such as ontologies and knowledge graphs. However, the three major challenges remain: (i) the lack of explainability of deep learning-based systems (e.g. disease information), especially to non-experts like farmers; (ii) a lack of contextual information (e.g. soil or plant information) and domain-expert knowledge in deep learning-based systems; and (iii) the lack of pattern learning ability of systems based on the semantic web, despite their ability to incorporate domain knowledge. Therefore, this paper presents the work on disease classification, addressing the challenges as mentioned earlier by combining deep learning and semantic web technologies, namely ontologies and knowledge graphs. The findings are: (i) 0.905 (90.5%) prediction accuracy on large noisy dataset; (ii) ability to generate user-level explanations about disease and incorporate contextual and domain knowledge; (iii) the average prediction latency of 3.8514 s on 5268 samples; (iv) 95% of users finding the explanation of the proposed method useful; and (v) 85% of users being able to understand generated explanations easily—show that the proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art in terms of performance and explainability and is also suitable for real-world scenarios.

Study of Wetting Pattern on Drip Irrigation

Abstract: There is global consensus on food security challenge and increasing crop production to meet the demand across globe. Population growth, increasing water stress and climate variability, stresses on finding ways of getting more crop to meet our food needs, approach. One solution to this problem is the use of drip irrigation system which improves profitably by increasing crop yield and quality while reducing costs from water, energy, labour, chemical inputs and water runoff. The experiment was conducted in the Gangapada farm, Khordha, Odisha. The actual discharge of the dripper having theoretical capacity 8lph was measured and the result varied in the range of 6.8 - 8.15lph. The wetting pattern also measured by constructing three Bed having size 2.6 × 2 × 1 ft. The average wetting pattern was found of are 43.5, 36.3, 26, 12.0 cm at the depth of 0,10,20,30,40 cm respectively. The moisture content was also measured at different depth to study the variation at different depth using 8lph dripper

Factors affecting the adoption of climate-smart agriculture technologies in rice farming systems in Mali, West Africa

Rice is a major staple crop in Mali, yet it is very vulnerable to climate change. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) has been proposed as a solution to simultaneously address the challenges of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and food security. However, there is limited understanding of the factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt CSA practices in Malian rice farming systems. This study aimed to identify CSA practices in rice farming systems and determine the factors that drive farmers’ adoption. We conducted interviews with 440 rice producers, 70% of which were women, and organized 16 focus group discussions (FGDs), including nine exclusively for women, in the Sikasso region of Mali. Data was collected through interviews, surveys, and FGDs. We conducted surveys using a questionnaire and the FGDs and interviews followed a standardized guide. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the data, and we analyzed the factors influencing the adoption of CSA technologies using a logistic regression model. The findings showed that crop diversification, improved rice varieties, crop rotation, tree planting, micro-doses of organic manure, and micro-doses of mineral fertilizer were highly adopted CSA practices in the study area. Key barriers to the successful adoption of CSA practices included limited input availability, lack of control over technologies, insufficient labor availability, insufficient availability and high cost of seedlings for reforestation, lack of information on developed technologies, and limited land access for women and youth. The adoption of CSA technologies was significantly influenced by social factors such as respondents’ age, education level, experience in rice production systems, gender, marital status, and membership in a rice producer cooperative. The results of this study are valuable for guiding extension services’ approach and implementation to scaling up the adoption of CSA technologies. These findings also underscore the benefit of policies and programs focused on disseminating rice farming system CSA practices.

Sustainable food and feed sources from microalgae: Food security and the circular bioeconomy

Global population growth, projected to reach 9.3 billion by 2050, poses significant challenges to food production and the traditional food supply system. In this context, microalgae offer a sustainable solution for global food security. With their carbon sequestration capacity, nutrient richness, and photosynthetic efficiency, microalgae have the potential to become essential in achieving carbon neutrality and meeting future food demands. However, several challenges must be addressed, including high production costs, low acceptance, and safety concerns. Coordinated efforts from various fields are required to overcome these challenges and unlock the full potential of microalgae-based food development. This review article discusses the benefits, drawbacks, and future prospects of microalgae as food and feed sources. It covers topics such as their nutritional compositions, economic feasibility, sustainability, and market trends. Additionally, the article discusses essential aspects, including safety, environmental impact, cost, functionality, and ongoing research efforts. Overall, this comprehensive review aims to shed light on the potential of microalgae as a viable solution to address global food security challenges while also addressing the hurdles that must be overcome for their successful implementation in the food industry.