scholarly journals Millets as Nutre Cereals

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
M. Sekhar ◽  
Abhishek Sagar ◽  
Wasim Khan ◽  
Jayant Patel
Keyword(s):  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Underutilized Crops ◽  
Marginal Populations ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Improvement Strategies ◽  
Therapeutic Molecules

Among the growing population (136.64 crs as per2019) many people experience scarcity of food and all. In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 94th out of the 107 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2020 GHI scores. With a score of 27.2, India has a level of hunger that is serious (www.un.org/). The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that the on-going COVID-19 pandemic will increase this number as developing countries are double-hit by disease and hunger (www.fao.org/2019-ncov/q-and-a/) Disruptions in global supply chains, economic consequences (i.e., loss of jobs and incomes), the ban on the export of agricultural commodities, and price increases are the major reasons for this crisis. Although much attention is being given to the development of vaccines, therapeutic molecules, and preventive measures to combat COVID-19, the invisible threat to the lives and livelihoods of marginal populations through hunger and malnutrition remains largely unaddressed. The focus of the 2019 Global hunger index on ‘The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change’ underlines the impacts of changing climates on agriculture that include crop failures owing to problems such as seasonal fluctuations, increased insect and pest attacks, and broad-spectrum infection by potential pathogens (www.globalhungerindex.org/).Supplying food grains is an immediate measure to aid the affected population, whereas devising long-term plans to prevent such challenges is the need of the hour. That said, the possibility of a second and third wave of COVID-19 in the near future should not be ignored. In such a case, the UN World Food Programme predicts (UN-WFP; https://insight.wfp.org/) that death due to lack of food would outnumber deaths caused by disease infection. The importance of crop diversity and of mainstreaming underutilized crops that could serve as functional foods has been pointed out before; however, identifying the best candidates of underutilized crops and deploying crop improvement strategies to release better varieties is still in a nascent stage. Mayes et al. Other plant species, including tubers, legumes, and leafy vegetables, also fall within the criteria of underutilized species; however, emphasis is given to small millets because they are capable of reducing the overdependence on major cereals. Three major cereals, namely rice, wheat, and maize, cater for up to 60% of the global food requirements, and this is one of the plausible causes of food and nutritional inadequacies in the hunger hotspots where these crops are largely imported for consumption. Millets, although cultivated marginally in those regions, have the potential to address these inadequacies if their area of cultivation is increased and crop improvement strategies are devised and deployed.

HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF ARSENIC AND OTHER HEAVY METALS FROM VEGETABLES GROWN IN BANGLISH VILLAGE, BANGLADESH

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEBUNNAHAR KHANDAKAR ◽  
MD. SHAFIQUL ISLAM ◽  
TSUYOSHI NAKAMURA ◽  
KOICHIRO SERA ◽  
TOSHIHIRO TAKATSUJI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
World Health ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Tube Wells ◽  
Significant Pathway ◽  
Health Organization

Intake of heavy metals from contaminated agricultural products represents a significant pathway for human exposure. Banglish village in the Comilla district is one of the most devastated arsenic (As) contaminated areas in Bangladesh. This study focus whether As is solely responsible for causing arsenicosis or whether some other heavy metals have a synergistic effect on the toxicity of As . The study sampled various leafy and non-leafy vegetables and groundwaters were analyzed by using the Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) method. The results revealed that both the vegetables and the groundwater were highly contaminated with As and lead (Pb) , although the contents in the vegetables and the groundwater varied depending on species and tube wells. As and Pb concentrations in the edible part of all tested vegetables and in groundwater exceeded the permissible intake levels of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The findings inferred that the inhabitants of the study area are experiencing health risks resulting from the intake of As and Pb , and that Pb might have a synergistic role with As by aggravating the arsenicosis. The potential health risks due to Pb is being reported for the first time in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Titanium, Zinc, Lead, Chromium, Cadmium, Cobalt and Copper Concentrations in Vegetables Produced using Wastewater in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas of Nairobi City County, Kenya

2021 ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
David K. Rono ◽  
Jacob W. Wakhungu
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Spinacia Oleracea ◽  
Absorption Spectrometry ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
World Health ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Titanium Zinc

Vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, minerals and fibres. Ingestion of vegetables contaminated with heavy metals is one of the main routes through which heavy metals enter the human body and may cause diseases. In this study we investigated the concentrations of titanium, zinc, lead, chromium, cadmium, cobalt and copper in the commonly produced vegetables viz. Brassica sp.,Spinacia oleracea, Amaranthus sp. and Solanum sp. using wastewater in Ruai ward, Nairobi City County, Kenya. Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) was used to estimate the levels of these metals in vegetables sampled from five plots in the study area. The concentration status for each heavy metal in the samples was compared with the permissible levels for corresponding heavy metals set by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization. Our findings indicated the presence of Ti, Zn, Cr and Cu in all the vegetable samples and their concentrations varied considerably, while Pb, Cd and Co were not detected in most samples. The presence of heavy metals in vegetables was in the order of Pb > Cd > Co > Cu > Cr > Zn > Ti. We concluded that vegetables produced using wastewater had elevated levels of the investigated heavy metals at the time of analysis beyond FAO/ WHO safe limits for corresponding metals in leafy vegetables.

scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Risks and Food Insecurity in the Agri Supply Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1-Feb) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Papri Ray ◽  
R Duraipandian ◽  
Gajjala Kiranmai ◽  
Rachana Rao ◽  
Mathew John Jose
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Agricultural Industry ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Management Scheme ◽  
Production And Distribution

Globally, the agricultural industry has increased the market for various farm products. The timely production and distribution of harvested crops and fruits are essential because of the increased demand across the globe. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, one third of the food produced for consumption is lost or wasted worldwide, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tons per year. The productivity of the farm’s yield decreases mainly because of unstandardized processes. The employment of an optimal supply chain management scheme must be the key to the situation. This would not only promote consumer shielding; however, it will jointly help corporations sustain economic supply chains. Due to health and socio-economic consequences, the most vulnerable population groups’ food security is likely to decline further (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2020). The agriculture sector’s supply chain faces many challenges, such as inadequacy of information flow, lack of logistics efficiency, lack of infrastructure and storage facilities, lack of risk mitigation systems that are critical during unforeseen disruptions. The paper identifies various risks in the supply chain and their ability to disrupt the supply chain in terms of severity, food insecurity, and sustainability. A study has been done among a hundred stakeholders, and thirty experts from the field, and the exploratory research suggests possible approaches to these challenges using technology.

Food waste and dynamic complex systems: The case of Peru and a solution model proposal Part 1: Peruvian Anchoveta (Engraulis ringens)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos A Almenara
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Revenue Management ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Solution Model ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Engraulis Ringens ◽  
The United Nations

[THE MANUSCRIPT IS A DRAFT] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2020), food waste and losses comprises nearly 1.3 billion tonnes every year, which equates to around US$ 990 billion worldwide. Ironically, over 820 million people do not have enough food to eat (FAO, 2020). This gap production-consumption puts in evidence the need to reformulate certain practices such as the controversial monocropping (i.e., growing a single crop on the same land on a yearly basis), as well as to improve others such as revenue management through intelligent systems. In this first part of a series of articles, the focus is on the Peruvian anchoveta fish (Engraulis ringens).

To the Empire and Beyond

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Barton
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Chemical Fertilizers ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Southern Rhodesia ◽  
The Government ◽  
Second World

This chapter traces the expansion of industrial agricultural methods after the Second World War. Western governments and the Food and Agriculture Organization pushed for increased use of chemical fertilizers to aid development and resist Soviet encroachment. Meanwhile small groups of organic farmers and gardeners adopted Howard’s methods in the Anglo-sphere and elsewhere in the world. European movements paralleled these efforts and absorbed the basic principles of the Indore Method. British parliament debated the merits of organic farming, but Howard failed to persuade the government to adopt his policies. Southern Rhodesia, however, did implement his ideas in law. Desiccation theory aided his attempts in South Africa and elsewhere, and Louise Howard, after Albert’s death, kept alive a wide network of activists with her publications.

scholarly journals Tackling G × E × M interactions to close on-farm yield-gaps: creating novel pathways for crop improvement by predicting contributions of genetics and management to crop productivity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Cooper ◽  
Kai P. Voss-Fels ◽  
Carlos D. Messina ◽  
Tom Tang ◽  
Graeme L. Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Genotype By Environment ◽  
Improvement Strategies ◽  
Yield Gaps ◽  
On Farm

Abstract Key message Climate change and Genotype-by-Environment-by-Management interactions together challenge our strategies for crop improvement. Research to advance prediction methods for breeding and agronomy is opening new opportunities to tackle these challenges and overcome on-farm crop productivity yield-gaps through design of responsive crop improvement strategies. Abstract Genotype-by-Environment-by-Management (G × E × M) interactions underpin many aspects of crop productivity. An important question for crop improvement is “How can breeders and agronomists effectively explore the diverse opportunities within the high dimensionality of the complex G × E × M factorial to achieve sustainable improvements in crop productivity?” Whenever G × E × M interactions make important contributions to attainment of crop productivity, we should consider how to design crop improvement strategies that can explore the potential space of G × E × M possibilities, reveal the interesting Genotype–Management (G–M) technology opportunities for the Target Population of Environments (TPE), and enable the practical exploitation of the associated improved levels of crop productivity under on-farm conditions. Climate change adds additional layers of complexity and uncertainty to this challenge, by introducing directional changes in the environmental dimension of the G × E × M factorial. These directional changes have the potential to create further conditional changes in the contributions of the genetic and management dimensions to future crop productivity. Therefore, in the presence of G × E × M interactions and climate change, the challenge for both breeders and agronomists is to co-design new G–M technologies for a non-stationary TPE. Understanding these conditional changes in crop productivity through the relevant sciences for each dimension, Genotype, Environment, and Management, creates opportunities to predict novel G–M technology combinations suitable to achieve sustainable crop productivity and global food security targets for the likely climate change scenarios. Here we consider critical foundations required for any prediction framework that aims to move us from the current unprepared state of describing G × E × M outcomes to a future responsive state equipped to predict the crop productivity consequences of G–M technology combinations for the range of environmental conditions expected for a complex, non-stationary TPE under the influences of climate change.

scholarly journals Ensuring Agricultural Sustainability through Remote Sensing in the Era of Agriculture 5.0

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5911
Author(s):  
Vanesa Martos ◽  
Ali Ahmad ◽  
Pedro Cartujo ◽  
Javier Ordoñez
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Structural Parameters ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
World Population ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Zero Hunger

Timely and reliable information about crop management, production, and yield is considered of great utility by stakeholders (e.g., national and international authorities, farmers, commercial units, etc.) to ensure food safety and security. By 2050, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, around 70% more production of agricultural products will be needed to fulfil the demands of the world population. Likewise, to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the second goal of “zero hunger”, potential technologies like remote sensing (RS) need to be efficiently integrated into agriculture. The application of RS is indispensable today for a highly productive and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, the present study draws a general overview of RS technology with a special focus on the principal platforms of this technology, i.e., satellites and remotely piloted aircrafts (RPAs), and the sensors used, in relation to the 5th industrial revolution. Nevertheless, since 1957, RS technology has found applications, through the use of satellite imagery, in agriculture, which was later enriched by the incorporation of remotely piloted aircrafts (RPAs), which is further pushing the boundaries of proficiency through the upgrading of sensors capable of higher spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions. More prominently, wireless sensor technologies (WST) have streamlined real time information acquisition and programming for respective measures. Improved algorithms and sensors can, not only add significant value to crop data acquisition, but can also devise simulations on yield, harvesting and irrigation periods, metrological data, etc., by making use of cloud computing. The RS technology generates huge sets of data that necessitate the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to extract useful products, thereby augmenting the adeptness and efficiency of agriculture to ensure its sustainability. These technologies have made the orientation of current research towards the estimation of plant physiological traits rather than the structural parameters possible. Futuristic approaches for benefiting from these cutting-edge technologies are discussed in this study. This study can be helpful for researchers, academics, and young students aspiring to play a role in the achievement of sustainable agriculture.

scholarly journals Strengthening implementation of antimicrobial resistance national action plans

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Anderson ◽  
K Schulze ◽  
A Cassini ◽  
D Plauchoras ◽  
E Mossialos
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization

Abstract Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major challenges of our time. Countries use national action plans as a mechanism to build engagement among stakeholders and coordinate a range of actions across human, animal, and environmental health. However, implementation of recommended policies such as stewardship of antimicrobials, infection prevention and control, and stimulating research and development of novel antimicrobials and alternatives remains inconsistent. Improving the quality of governance within antimicrobial resistance national action plans is an essential step to improving implementation. To date, no systematic approach to governance of national action plans on AMR exists. To address this issue, we aimed to develop the first governance framework to offer guidance for both the development and assessment of national action plans on AMR. We reviewed health system governance framework reviews to inform the basic structure of our framework, international guidance documents from WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the European Commission, and sought the input of 25 experts from international organisations, government ministries, policy institutes, and academic institutions to develop and refine our framework. The framework consists of 18 domains with 52 indicators that are contained within three governance areas: policy design, implementation tools, and monitoring and evaluation. Countries must engage with a cyclical process of continuous design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to achieve these aims.

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