scholarly journals African Orphan Crops under Abiotic Stresses: Challenges and Opportunities

Scientifica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zerihun Tadele

A changing climate, a growing world population, and a reduction in arable land devoted to food production are all problems facing the world food security. The development of crops that can yield under uncertain and extreme climatic and soil growing conditions can play a key role in mitigating these problems. Major crops such as maize, rice, and wheat are responsible for a large proportion of global food production but many understudied crops (commonly known as “orphan crops”) including millets, cassava, and cowpea feed millions of people in Asia, Africa, and South America and are already adapted to the local environments in which they are grown. The application of modern genetic and genomic tools to the breeding of these crops can provide enormous opportunities for ensuring world food security but is only in its infancy. In this review, the diversity and types of understudied crops will be introduced, and the beneficial traits of these crops as well as their role in the socioeconomics of Africa will be discussed. In addition, the response of orphan crops to diverse types of abiotic stresses is investigated. A review of the current tools and their application to the breeding of enhanced orphan crops will also be described. Finally, few examples of global efforts on tackling major abiotic constraints in Africa are presented.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amar Kaanane ◽  
Hind Mkadem

Generally, in different countries, strategies to improve food security have focused on increasing food production, which contributes to climate pollution and increases stress on scarce natural resources such as water and land. Due to the increase of world population (estimated to be 9 milliards in 2050), to the limited biological resources and to the increase of environmental pollution, there is a need in innovation in food industry. This can be done by improving food quality through new technologies for valorization of food and food by-products. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one third of world food production is lost or wasted along the food supply chain. In the sector of fisheries and aquaculture, 35% of the world’s harvest is lost or wasted each year. Thus, the valorization of marine by-products should be an obligation to assure the world food security and to satisfy the growing demand for fishery products. The objectives of this study are: First to review the sources of by-products and their characteristics and second to describe and evaluate the different technologies that are or can be used to valorize marine by-products in production of marine oils and concentrated fatty acids.


Author(s):  
James Augusto Pires Tiburcio ◽  
Marcel Bursztyn

Natural endowments such as land availability, abundant water, fertile soils, and favorable climate combined with decreasing population growth place Brazil as the leading force in world food production. Brazil is also the guardian of the most diverse eco-systems in the planet and is continuously wrestling between the expansion of the agricultural land area and the preservation of the most diverse fauna and flora, embodied in the Amazon forest. Addressing the international political economy of trade and food security from a Brazilian perspective, this paper argues that the main obstacles facing Brazil in food security are not domestic, but international. International political issues are at the core of the most relevant hurdles and understanding the reciprocal relationship between world food security and the emerging economies position especially that of Brazil in food production and trade is crucial. I argue that comprehending the elements that constrain the present and future role of Brazil in fulfilling its potential as food supplier in an ecologically and economically sustainable path, as well as its new found role as agricultural cooperation partner in the promotion of a food safe world is paramount if the world is to feed 7 billion mouths.


2020 ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Cohen-Gath K. Cohen-Gath K. ◽  

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing danger of the global economic crisis, the world economy has actually failed to ensure the global food security. The number of the world’s inhabitants at risk has increased by tens of millions after the pandemic. The task of each country is to make every eff ort to eliminate the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure maximum food security for its citizens. Israel has recently made signifi cant achievements in the fi eld of innovative agriculture, so it off ers to implement its eff ective techniques on a wide scale. Cooperation between Israel and Russia, as well as mutual assistance in food production can make a signifi cant contribution to the solving strategies of the global food problem.


1976 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Sinha

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