Food Insecure Regions Research Articles

The Discovery of English Wants: Dearth and Plenty in Early Modern Anglo-Indian Exchanges

English experiences of late-Elizabethan economic crises coincided with national ambition to engage in global trade, marking a shift in the discourse of “needs” and “wants” in the English commonwealth. English travelers and traders documented in different modes of writing the topography, climate, food resources, markets, and roadways of Mughal India to better understand local abundance, needs, and wants. Travel through food insecure regions in India, interaction with local inhabitants, and encounters with famine created hybrid chorographic modes: forms of writing about travel and place within English environments were adapted and applied to Indian regions. By examining the writings of four lesser-known travelers to India in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, this article argues that English understandings of nationhood, population, and commonwealth were informed by attempts to comprehend, inhabit, and write the complex, contingent spaces of other populations and their needs, wants, and crises, as well as those of Britain. The English commonwealth was thus reimagined in the context of the wider demographics of plural populations.

Studying the Relationship between Satellite-Derived Evapotranspiration and Crop Yield: A Case Study of the Cauvery River Basin

Satellite-derived evapotranspiration (ETa) products serve global applications, including drought monitoring and food security assessment. This study examines the applicability of ETa data from two distinct sources, aiming to analyze its correlation with crop yield (rice, maize, barley, soybean). Given the critical role of crop yield in economic and food security contexts, monthly and yearly satellite-derived ETa data were assessed for decision-makers, particularly in drought-prone and food-insecure regions. Utilizing QGIS, zonal statistics operations and time series graphs were employed to compare ETa with crop yield and ET anomaly. Data processing involved converting NRSC daily data to monthly and extracting single-pixel ET data using R Studio. Results reveal USGSFEWS as a more reliable ETa source, offering better accuracy and data continuity, especially during monsoon seasons. However, the correlation between crop yield and ETa ranged from 12% to 35%, while with ET anomaly, it ranged from 35% to 55%. Enhanced collection of satellite-based ETa and crop-yield data is imperative for informed decision-making in these regions. Despite limitations, ETa can moderately guide decisions regarding crop-yield management.

A comprehensive analysis of food insecurity in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray.

The number of globally food-insecure people is increasing since 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of severely food-insecure people in the world. Tigray region of Ethiopia is one of the food-insecure regions, which, over the past many decades has been affected by recurrent food insecurities. In the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, many people are living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper food security studies are vital for proper intervention mechanisms. Yet, previous food security studies have rarely addressed the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. In this study, all components are duly considered to assess the food insecurity status in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, Ethiopia. Of the 34 rural districts in Tigray, 363 households from three drought-prone rural districts were studied. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and Food Insecurity Experience Scale were adapted to measure the food availability, access to food, and stability components of food security; and, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), mid-upper arm circumference, and Bitot's spot were used to analyze the food utilization aspect. Findings show that 68% of the studied community frequently ate less food than they felt they needed and 82.1% of the households have experienced hunger because of lack of food. The study rural districts were unconnected to road networks; hence, 87.9% of the elderly and 20.4% of the women and girls had no access to food markets. Regarding the food utilization, 81.5% of the studied households had poor FCS; and the average HDDS and FCS for the study areas were 2.47 and 18.9, respectively. The prevalence of Global acute malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) for 6-59months of age children in the study areas were 50.3, 4.2, and 46.1%, respectively. More notably, the prevalence of SAM for children from the food-insecure households was 21.2%. The prevalence of MAM for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in the study areas was 59.5. Further, the prevalence of Bitot's spot among 6-59months of age children was 1.9%. On the other hand, all the rural households had anxiety about their future food demands. The rural households living in the studied areas were critically food-insecure. All the measurements implied that the food insecurity situation in the study areas was unacceptably worrisome and life-threatening. This calls for an instant action to avert the occurrence of famine and starvation in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray region. Thus, interventions should primarily target the vulnerable rural people and need to be planned based on attaining food availability first rather than concurrently addressing all components of food security. Further, due emphasis should be given to diversifying livelihood strategies of the vulnerable villagers.

Risk, perception and COVID-19 impact on food security: evidence from Bundelkhand region, India

This study assessed the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food security in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Macro data on 29 indicators was collected to identify food insecure districts, and after identification of most food insecure region, i.e. Bundelkhand region, micro data was collected from an intensive field survey. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to select study sites and respondents. A total of 240 sample households of various land sizes and income groups were contacted to collect data using a well-structured and pre-tested schedule. The study findings revealed that districts belonging to the Bundelkhand region are highly food insecure compared with other regions of Uttar Pradesh, India. Micro-level findings indicate that households in the Lalitpur district are relatively food insecure compared to those in the Jhansi district. The results suggest that ongoing future government responses should focus on structural changes in food security by developing responsive packages to cushion members pushed into food insecurity by such pandemics.

Elite Genotypes of Water Yam (Dioscorea alata) Yield Food Product Quality Comparable to White Yam (Dioscorea rotundata)

Water yam (Dioscorea alata), also known as winged yam, is one of the most economically significant yam species, serving as a staple food crop in tropical and subtropical regions. Its widespread cultivation is due to its favorable agronomic characteristics, including high yield, improved tuber storability, and significant nutritional and health benefits. Despite these advantages, water yam often remains underutilized due to consumer biases towards its traditional food product quality, particularly for pounded yam preparations. In this study, we evaluated fifty-eight improved genotypes of water yams grown across three locations to assess their potential to produce superior food qualities comparable to the widely consumed white yams (D. rotundata). Seven white yams, including popular landraces, were used to set thresholds for desirable food quality. Through standardized analysis, yam samples were assessed for their biochemical composition and culinary and sensory texture attributes. The results revealed varying ranges of dry matter (DM), starch, sugar, protein, crude fiber (CF), fat, and amylose, spanning from 20.35 to 35.95 g/100 g, 42.81 to 83.31 g/100 g, 4.76 to 6.95 g/100 g, 4.33 to 6.62 g/100 g, 1.55 to 3.89 g/100 g, 0.32 to 0.53 g/100 g, and 29.27 to 38.52 g/100 g, respectively. The mean values (±SD) were found to be 29.85 ± 4.0 g/100 g (DM), 67.90 ± 44g/100 g (starch), 5.82 ± 0.64 g/100 g (sugar), 6.31 ± 1.31 g/100 g (protein), 2.14 ± 0.57 g/100 g (crude fiber), 0.44 ± 0.08 (fat), and 33 ± 16.43 g/100 g (amylose). Significant effects (p < 0.001) of the planting environments and genotypes on the biochemical composition of the yam samples were observed, except for the sugar content. Furthermore, specific water yam genotypes, such as TDa 0900354, TDa 9801174, TDa 1401619, TDa 1400301, TDa 140091, TDa 0100029, TDa 1100793, TDa 1401249, TDa 1100242, and TDa 1401276, exhibited biochemical properties and culinary and sensory textural attributes akin to the improved white yam genotypes and their landrace counterparts. These findings underscore the potential for promoting selected water yam genotypes to diversify food options and reduce reliance on a limited array of crops, particularly in traditional food-insecure regions of tropical Africa.

Assessment of handling practices for maize by farmers and marketers in food-insecure regions of Western Honduras

The objective of this study was to understand the maize production chain in the Republic of Honduras, and to identify potential obstacles hindering grain end-quality. Seventy-one municipalities across six departments of Western Honduras were surveyed: Copán, Intibucá, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque, and Santa Bárbara. A total of 871 surveys were collected, out of which 725 were from rural areas and 146 from urban areas. The sampling design reflected population density and population-based indicators from USAID's Feed the Future initiative, such as poverty level and prevalence of underweight non-pregnant females between the ages of 15 and 49. Further, indicators associated with underdevelopment in children were also considered. Survey instruments designed for either maize farmers or maize marketers were used to collect data including seed source, type planted, intercropping, time of harvest, drying and storage practices, quality control, and consumption patterns. Farmers preferred to plant criolla (native) maize (81–96%), although non-native varieties were also grown and consumed (3–13%). Following harvest, sun drying is the most used method (14–40%) for moisture control. Farmers reported maize spoilage resulting primarily from inadequate drying and pest damage (56–82%). Although aware of this, up to 28% of the producers reported not performing preventive grain inspections in the course of storage. Maize marketers typically sourced their grain within the department (33–71%), with a smaller fraction (0–8%) also obtaining maize from other departments or neighboring countries. Mirroring farmers, visual quality checks by marketers occurred primarily at initial storage (36–69%) and decreased in frequency as storage time lengthened. Given that both studied groups of farmers and marketers continue to rely on traditional practices, and corrective rather than preventive measures, the likelihood of low-quality product and risk for mycotoxin contamination is exacerbated. Based on these findings, achieving food security for the region of study will require a transformation in pre- and post-harvest handling practices.

Pathways and policy options for food and nutrition gaps in arid agricultural farming systems in the Tigray Region, north Ethiopia

Food and nutrition security is a major global challenge especially indeveloping countries.Agriculture is main means of livelihoods and hunger is drastically increasing from time to time especially due to effects of climate change, conflict and other manmade and natural calamities in these countries. Similarly, the Tigray Region is one of the Ethiopia's most food and nutrition insecure regions with agriculture serving as the main source of income and employment. This study was therefore conducted to fill the gap in understanding the socioeconomic situation, bio-physical environment, institutional setting and policy landscape by analysing the existing circumstances in Tigray Region. This research employed quantitative data sets collected from 300 randomely selected Productive Saftey Net Program (PSNP) beneficiarieries and Non-PSNP households using probability proportional to size. The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) used as a proxy measure to nutrition security as our data is 24 h recall and food gap months as proxy to food security. Besides, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method is used to construct household asset index. The results of the study revealed that there are clear and significant differences of the PSNP and Non-PSNP households, and gender in land holding (p<0.01%), asset ownership(p<0.01%), food gap months(p<0.01%), dietary diversity(p<0.01%), exposure to hazards and risks, copping strategies, yield, access to agricultural extension services, access to improved varieties (varietal diversification). The male headed households, and Non-PSNP households are better off than the female headed and PSNP households' counterparts. Thus, provision of practical training, conducting farmer's participatory research, field days, promoting and creating access to farmers' preferred high yielding improved varieties and management practices available in the research and extension consortium, support in research and development that develops and disseminate appropriate technologies to help farmers to lower their food gap months is highly important. In addition, sustainable intensification, off-farm employment alternatives, and engaging in agribusiness activities that create resilient livelihood options to those resource poor farm households, strengthening the formal and informal seed system would help to reduce food gap months, improve HDDS, build resilience of the food and nutrition insecure households. Therefore, customized extension services and packages are important for addressing the food and nutrition security gaps by setting goal, outcome and output indicators for future interventions in the research and development arena in filling food gap months, dietary diversity and household asset building through collaboration among relevant stakeholders in the food system.

HarvestNet: A Dataset for Detecting Smallholder Farming Activity Using Harvest Piles and Remote Sensing

Small farms contribute to a large share of the productive land in developing countries. In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where 80% of farms are small (under 2 ha in size), the task of mapping smallholder cropland is an important part of tracking sustainability measures such as crop productivity. However, the visually diverse and nuanced appearance of small farms has limited the effectiveness of traditional approaches to cropland mapping. Here we introduce a new approach based on the detection of harvest piles characteristic of many smallholder systems throughout the world. We present HarvestNet, a dataset for mapping the presence of farms in the Ethiopian regions of Tigray and Amhara during 2020-2023, collected using expert knowledge and satellite images, totalling 7k hand-labeled images and 2k ground-collected labels. We also benchmark a set of baselines, including SOTA models in remote sensing, with our best models having around 80% classification performance on hand labelled data and 90% and 98% accuracy on ground truth data for Tigray and Amhara, respectively. We also perform a visual comparison with a widely used pre-existing coverage map and show that our model detects an extra 56,621 hectares of cropland in Tigray. We conclude that remote sensing of harvest piles can contribute to more timely and accurate cropland assessments in food insecure regions. The dataset can be accessed through https://figshare.com/s/45a7b45556b90a9a11d2, while the code for the dataset and benchmarks is publicly available at https://github.com/jonxuxu/harvest-piles

Comparing Machine Learning Algorithms for Estimating the Maize Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) Using UAV-Acquired Remotely Sensed Data in Smallholder Croplands

Monitoring and mapping crop water stress and variability at a farm scale for cereals such as maize, one of the most common crops in developing countries with 200 million people around the world, is an important objective within precision agriculture. In this regard, unmanned aerial vehicle-obtained multispectral and thermal imagery has been adopted to estimate the crop water stress proxy (i.e., Crop Water Stress Index) in conjunction with algorithm machine learning techniques, namely, partial least squares (PLS), support vector machines (SVM), and random forest (RF), on a typical smallholder farm in southern Africa. This study addresses this objective by determining the change between foliar and ambient temperature (Tc-Ta) and vapor pressure deficit to determine the non-water stressed baseline for computing the maize Crop Water Stress Index. The findings revealed a significant relationship between vapor pressure deficit and Tc-Ta (R2 = 0.84) during the vegetative stage between 10:00 and 14:00 (South Africa Standard Time). Also, the findings revealed that the best model for predicting the Crop Water Stress Index was obtained using the random forest algorithm (R2 = 0.85, RMSE = 0.05, MAE = 0.04) using NDRE, MTCI, CCCI, GNDVI, TIR, Cl_Red Edge, MTVI2, Red, Blue, and Cl_Green as optimal variables, in order of importance. The results indicated that NIR, Red, Red Edge derivatives, and thermal band were some of the optimal predictor variables for the Crop Water Stress Index. Finally, using unmanned aerial vehicle data to predict maize crop water stress index on a southern African smallholder farm has shown encouraging results when evaluating its usefulness regarding the use of machine learning techniques. This underscores the urgent need for such technology to improve crop monitoring and water stress assessment, providing valuable insights for sustainable agricultural practices in food-insecure regions.

The distribution of insect pests and the associated loss of stored sorghum in the Kena district of Konso Zone, South-Western Ethiopia.

Sorghum is a staple crop grown in the poorest and most food-insecure regions of Ethiopia. But storage insect pests are its key constraints that have been causing considerable loss. Accordingly, an assessment of the prevalence of insect pests and the associated loss of sorghum stored under farmers' traditional storages was done in randomly selected major sorghum-growing kebeles of Kena District using a nested design between November 1, 2019 and December 30, 2020. It was conducted through the sampling of one kg of grain from a total of 360 randomly selected farmers' storages. Pests' abundance was determined by dividing the total number of individual species by the total number of samples. A count and weight method was used to estimate percent grain damage and weight loss by pests. Sitophilus zeamais, Sitophilus oryzae, Sitotroga cereallella, Tribolium castaneum, Tribolium confusum, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Cryptolestes pusillus, Rhyzopertha dominica, and Plodia interpunctella were the pests identified from grain samples. When compared to mid-latitude, where they were found in the range between 2.36± 0.21 and 17.50±0.98 mean number of species, all of these pests had a considerably (p < 0.05) larger distribution in low-land kebeles, where they predominated in the range between 5.44±2.00 and 23.61±1.75 amean number. During the nine-month storage period, the degree of pest infestation, percentage of grain damage, and weight loss were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the bamboo bins when no management measures were implemented in the mid-land and low-land kebeles, respectively, than in the barn. Consequently, bamboo bin storage was considered ineffective for sufficient sorghum grain protection against pests and the associated loss over a longer storage period. But barn storage and the use of cultural pest management practices performed better in protecting stored sorghum from pests. Therefore, improving the bamboo bin storage method is needed to improve its grain protection efficacy.

Effectiveness of Early Warning Systems in Enhancing Food Security in Pokot Central Sub County, West Pokot County, Kenya

Pokot Central Sub County in West Pokot County, Kenya, is the most drought-stricken and food-insecure region as of 2022. The region faces severe threats to agriculture and food accessibility, exacerbated by delayed, reactive drought response strategies and limited resources. This study evaluated the effectiveness of early warning systems in enhancing food security during drought periods. The study used vulnerability and resilience and complex adaptive systems theories to explore these interrelationships. A mixed-method approach with a convergent parallel design was adopted, targeting 22,041 households in Pokot Central. A sample of 396 households was selected through stratified random sampling and 20 key informants were chosen using purposive sampling. Descriptive analysis outlined drought preparedness and food security, while thematic and content analysis were used for qualitative data. Regression and correlation analysis determined relationships between early warning systems and food security. Key findings revealed a positive association between early warning awareness and food security (r=0.155, p=0.000). Recommendations include enhancing drought risk management and improving early warning dissemination. An integrated approach involving government agencies, NGOs and local communities is crucial for effective drought response.

Food security intervention mechanisms in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray.

Tigray is one of the food-insecure regions with many people living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper intervention mechanisms are vital for addressing food insecurity. Yet, food security intervention mechanisms of various levels are not researched well. Besides, previous studies have rarely addressed the objectives of food security intervention mechanisms in relation to the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Thus, this study aims to investigate the food security intervention mechanisms in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray in relation with the major components of food security. This study has employed a cross-sectional study design based on a mixed research approach with primary and secondary data. For this, 363 households from three selected drought-prone rural districts, i.e., Atsbi-wenberta, Irob, and Hintalo- wejerat were studied. Primary data were collected using questionnaires and key-informant interviews. And, secondary data were collected from relevant archives and policy documents. The obtained data were analyzed descriptively and content-wise. Findings show that there were several international interventions intended to halt food insecurity sustainably through financial aid, but many of the interventions were found to be responding to humanitarian crises mainly the food shortages. Ethiopia's Food and Nutrition Policy, Food Security Program, Food Security Strategy, and Food Security Pack program were the food security intervention mechanisms at the national level. These interventions were found to be inconsistent with each other in their intended goals. Regionally, no food security strategy or program was found intervening to the prevailing food insecurity in Tigray. More notably, the region has no food security bureau or office that deals with food security issues of the region. At a community level, food aid, and PSNP transfers have been the usual food security intervention mechanisms. 35.6% (77,010) of the population in the study rural districts were found to be rural PSNP beneficiaries. The food aid and PSNP transfers were outrageously insufficient for the recipients to cope with food insecurity. Intervention mechanisms should focus on enhancing vulnerable households' coping and adaptive capacities to deal with food security problems. In this regard, all the food security intervention mechanisms of various levels should be integrated into the common goal of achieving food security.

Assessing Business Empowerment Program Effectiveness: Dolago Padang's Women Farmer Group Study

This research evaluates the implementation of an economic empowerment program through the Women Farmer Group (WFG) using sustainable home food yard activities (P2L) supported by the Food Security Agency - Ministry of Agriculture. The program aims to enhance economic empowerment in priority areas, addressing stunting and vulnerable food-insecure regions while promoting food resilience. The study measures the effectiveness of the program implemented through the WFG and evaluates it from the perspective of Islamic economics. Adopting a field research approach with a qualitative descriptive method, primary data is collected through interviews and observations, and secondary data is obtained from the documentation. Program effectiveness is assessed using a simple statistical method, dividing realized program activities by the set targets. Analysis of effectiveness indicators is based on interview findings. The research measures program effectiveness through data reduction, presentation, and conclusion-drawing techniques. The results show that the WFG program in Dolago Padang Village fulfills two effectiveness indicators: target accuracy and program objectives. From the perspective of Islamic economics, the program aligns with principles of justice, responsibility, social security (Takaful), and economic empowerment by the principle of Palawan. However, the program needs to meet the remaining four effectiveness indicators. The study recommends strengthening program awareness and monitoring for future implementation. It emphasizes that achieving program success is a shared responsibility between the government and the community, requiring the fulfillment of effective measurement criteria.

Reporting on the Status of Nutrition Programs of Higher Education in the Syrian Arab Republic: A Current Snapshot.

The Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) is experiencing high rates of malnutrition. While many adults experience overweight and obesity, as a direct result of the continuing conflict, SAR is also noted as one of the most food-insecure regions in the Arab world. To combat the health impacts and outcomes related to diet and dietary behaviors, trained nutrition professionals are needed. We aimed to examine current nutrition-affiliated programs offered in post-secondary institutions in the SAR. The search was conducted between Jan and Feb 2021. An electronic review of universities and colleges' websites, department webpages, and academic programs' homepages and resources of all the private and public universities in SAR was conducted to find programs related to nutrition, nutrition sciences, and dietetics. Only 13%, or 4 out of 30 SAR colleges and universities had bachelor's programs in nutrition or nutrition science, and none had nutrition programs at the graduate or terminal degree levels. A pathway for integration of graduates from nutrition sciences into the healthcare and public health workforce should be defined and an understanding of the value of those with a degree in nutrition should be cultivated in clinical and community care settings. Partnering with existing or creating independent organizations charged with defining the scope of practice and ensuring educational quality and competence of graduating students, as well as readiness to practice as part of a healthcare team or in a public health nutrition role will be integral to moving the nutrition profession forward in the SAR.

Presence, Co-Occurrence, and Daily Intake Estimates of Aflatoxins and Fumonisins in Maize Consumed in Food-Insecure Regions of Western Honduras.

Foodborne mycotoxins are a significant food safety risk in developing countries. Our objective was to determine the occurrence of and exposure levels to aflatoxins (AFs) and fumonisins (FBs) in maize intended for human and animal consumption in food-insecure regions of western Honduras. Total AFs and FBs were quantified with a monoclonal antibody-based affinity spectrofluorimetric method. FBs were detected in 614/631 samples of maize destined for human consumption at 0.3 to 41 mg/kg (mean, 2.7 mg/kg). Of the 614 positive samples, 147 had FB levels exceeding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory threshold of 4.0 mg/kg. AFs were detected in 109/631 samples of maize for human consumption with concentrations between 1.0 and 490 µg/kg (mean, 10 µg/kg). AF levels in 34 samples exceeded the FDA regulatory limit (i.e., 20 µg/kg). The average probable daily intake of AFs in western Honduras ranged from 0 to 260 ng/kg body weight/day, and for FBs, the average probable daily intake ranged from 17 to 53 μg/kg body weight/day. AFs and FBs co-occurred in 106/631 samples with 60 samples containing both toxins at levels greater than the FDA regulatory levels. Samples of maize intended for animal feed had significantly higher AF (mean, 22 µg/kg) and FB (mean, 7.6 mg/kg) contamination levels than those observed in samples destined for human consumption. Thus, the maize supply chain in western Honduras is contaminated with mycotoxins at levels that pose health risks to both humans and livestock. More effective mycotoxin surveillance and implementation of effective mitigation strategies are needed to reduce mycotoxin contamination and exposure.

A multi-dimensional spatial index for the quantification of food insecurity

Food insecurity is a multifaceted problem. It is, in fact, one of the most significant concerns of the 21st century. According to the United Nations, nearly one in every three people, or 2.3 billion people worldwide, experienced a moderate to severe degree of food insecurity in 2021. As a result, there is a rising recognition of the critical need for successfully identifying, monitoring, and improving the food security of vulnerable populations. An effective method for anticipating the degree to which a region may be considered food insecure, however, is required before attempting to launch remedies for such a situation. To this end, we propose a novel machine learning-based spatial index in this article for estimating the degree of food insecurity experienced by a population. A real-world case study pertaining to South Africa is presented which demonstrates the applicability of our modelling approach. In particular, our roadmap designed towards developing the index is based on a spatial analysis of the study region and the construction of an appropriate data set. Following that, the strength of machine learning algorithms is harnessed to estimate the risk of food insecurity. Finally, the results of the aforementioned components are analysed to determine the causes and features of food insecure regions. The demonstration of the roadmap presented in this article exhibits promising results in its ability to classify 92.3% of food-insecure regions in South Africa correctly, thereby potentially supporting decision makers in their quest to improve food security policies and programmes. The research presented here may, in future, be extended by including additional descriptive features in the data set, increasing decision support utility through actionable recommendations, and exploring the temporal aspect of food security by incorporating cross-sectional data.

Investigation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) Variety Preferences of Farmers in the Potential Low Land Areas of North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region

Sorghum is one of the major staple crops grown in the poorest and most food-insecure regions of Ethiopia. Sorghum production is predominantly based on local seeds with limited use of commercial fertilizer or other chemicals. This study is therefore aimed to demonstrate the improved sorghum variety with its improved management practices and to assess farmers’ and extension workers’ reactions. The newly released variety of Beletew was evaluated with the variety of Melkam. The experiments were implemented using a simple plot design with farmers’ fields as a replicate. The result revealed that in both locations, the studied varieties showed nonsignificant variation in grain yield. Besides, all the participant farmers were agreed that the variety Beletew had compacted panicle, a larger number of spikes per panicle, stayed green character and yellow seed color. Similarly, about 78.3% and 65.6% of the participant farmers from Efratana gidim and Ensaro Districts respectively agreed that the variety Beletew had a larger panicle size than the variety Melkam and expected higher grain yields from it. Therefore based on the grain yield performance of the result of farmers’ evaluation, the new variety of Beletew was recommended to be pre-scale on a wider scale to sorghum-growing lowland areas as an alternative shortmatured varieties.

The Importance of Becoming Tamed: Wild Food Plants as Possible Novel Crops in Selected Food-Insecure Regions

Domestication of new plants is one of the key (ongoing) phenomena in the history of agriculture. Wild plants are the ancestors of current and future crops and the largest reservoir of genetic diversity for crop breeding and improvement. Wild food species have been used for human nutrition since ancient times and are often the object of human strategies for coping with emergency situations, such as natural disasters and conflicts. We analyzed qualitative data collected through ethnobotanical field studies conducted in recent years in five selected Eurasian regions (Afghanistan, Kurdistan region of Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Ukraine) that have been recently affected by wars and/or socio-political turbulence. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with local people. We identified five taxa for each region, which are culturally very salient in the local food systems, that retain an important economic value in local markets, and that, therefore, could be good candidates for becoming novel crops. The cultivation of the reported species may significantly help local communities in their post-war livelihoods and especially in terms of food security and domestic nutritional care. Future studies should focus on the agronomic feasibility of the highlighted species within their regional ecosystems.

Review of Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in Africa

Food Security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. African continent is found to be the most susceptible and vulnerable places to climate change impacts, which is marked as the most food insecure region in the world, because of its reliance on climate sensitive and vulnerable economic sectors (rain fed agriculture) and its lower financial, technical, and technological capacity to adapt the climate change risks, and climate change is considered as posing the greatest threat to agriculture production and food security in the 21st century, particularly, in many of the poor, agriculture-based countries of Africa. Climate change affects food security in various ways: through impacting on all four components of food security (availability, accessibility, affordability, utilization and nutritional value and food system stability), through impacting on crop production and yield, through impacting on water availability, through impacting on fisheries production, through impacting on agricultural pests (weed, insect and disease pests), and through impacting on livestock production. African continent specially, Sub-Saharan African region is found to be the most drought prone area in the World. The severity of climate change extreme events/or drought induced food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa is emphasized. In Africa, food insecurity and malnutrition became chronic induced by repeatedly occurring drought. Due to climate change extreme event/or drought drive food crises/hunger many Africans were badly affected For instance, more than 100 million people were affected by drought driven hunger in Africa. So, Africa especially, Sub-Saharan Africa is marked as the most food insecure region in the world, and has the highest proportion of food insecure people, with an estimated regional average of 26.8% of the population undernourished and this rates could be over 50%. Moreover, the risk of hunger will increase by 10-20% in 2050. Similarly, in Africa, due to climate change impacts, the number of malnourished children is projected to be increased in 2030 and 2050 from the baseline (33 million) to 42 million and 52 million respectively. Thus, climate change impacts on food security has to be taken as key issue and impact reduction strategy options have to be implemented. Keywords: Impact of climate change, food security, malnutrition, food insecurity DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/90-03 Publication date: January 31 st 2023

USING MALMQUIST TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY METHOD FOR AGRICULTURAL SECTOR EFFICIENCY OF MIKTA COUNTRIES

MIKTA is a diverse and cross-regional grouping of powers that brings together Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia. MIKTA countries are significant economic powers and all are members of the Group of Twenty. Bye the way, agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to finish extreme poverty, improve shared prosperity, and find food for a forecasted 9.7 billion people by 2050. But agricultural growth, reduction in powerty and food security are at risk. Recent shocks such as COVID-19 related disruptions to extreme weather, pests and conflicts are all affecting food systems, resulting in inflation and increasing hunger. Increasing climate change could further reduce yields, especially in the food insecure regions around the world. So, the research aims whether the agricultural sector performs well or not within the MIKTA countries which are thought of bearing significant importance for their relavant continents. In this meaning, data for MIKTA countries throughout 2018 and 2019 from World Bank has been taken. Here, agricultural land, rural population and rural population percent of total population are inputs. On the other hand, agriculture, forestry, and fishing value added is the output of the DEA model. Then, analysis have been done using Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Method (MTFPM), super efficiency measures have been found out and ineffective countries in MIKTA have been detected.