Rethinking the Prospects of Sustainable Finance and Challenges of Agribusiness Transformation in Nigeria

The chapter explicates the need to rethink the prospects of sustainable finance (SF) for agribusiness transformation in spite of the challenges facing the sector in Nigeria. It extends to highlighting the implications of the nexus on entrepreneurship development. After a triangular data analysis using the world development indicators (2000-2016) and scholarly articles, the authors found that the prospects of SF are enormous: (1) Nigeria has a modest agricultural growth performance in the crop, food, livestock, and cereal production that could support SF; and (2) SF options such as green loans, green bonds, green credit, green investment funds, green mortgage scheme, and other green financial support instruments could be suitable for agribusiness transformation in the country. Also, the content analysis revealed there are 13 challenges facing agribusiness transformation in the country, and these have harmed the vegetation, farmland, and ocean leading to low productivity. The authors contribute to the literature by identifying SF options as a game-changer for agribusiness transformation.

THE IMPACT OF PRODUCTION TREATMENTS OF FEED CONCENTRATE PRODUCED FROM WASTE OF CEREAL PRODUCTION ON ITS BIOLOGICAL VALUE AND EFFICIENCY IN THE COMPOSITION OF COMPOUND FEED FOR CARP

The following article presents a new raw component in compound feed for carp – feed concentrate produced from cereal production waste. The feed concentrate is based on several types of cereal fodder meal - wheat, pea, barley, as well as wheat bran and unshelled oat grain. The feed concentrate is balanced according to the needs of carp and can be used as feed for carp instead of wheat grain or as a part of compound feed for carp. Heat-moisture processing of compound feed before extrusion is one of the main stages that further ensure the stability of technological processes and the final quality of the feed concentrate. The amino acid composition was determined at various temperatures of the feed concentrate after heat-moisture treatment of + 40, 60, 70 and 80º С at a constant moisture content of the concentrate of +282° С. Amino acid score has been calculated for feed concentrates that have been exposed to various heat treatments. The amino score was calculated in relation to the carp's need for essential amino acids. It was found that an increase in the temperature of the concentrate during heat-moisture treatment leads to a decrease in the content of essential amino acids. For example, the total content of methionine and cysteine in the composition of the feed concentrate at a temperature of +75° C was 0.46%, with the minimum allowable total content of these amino acids in the composition of feed 0,5%. Heat-moisture treatment at a product temperature above +75° C leads to a decrease in the content of essential amino acids and the biological value of the feed concentrate.The process of extrusion of feed concentrate from waste of cereal production has been studied. The glucose content in the feed concentrate was studied at various extrusion modes. The glucose content indicates the degree of modification of the starch during the extrusion process, and the more glucose the product contains, the better it is absorbed by the carp. When extruded with an increase in temperature, the starch passes into a viscous-flowing (gelatinized) state, forming a so-called melt, the cooling of which also leads to the formation of a three-dimensional gel network. The feed concentrate granule becomes monolithic in structure; it becomes quite hard and can harm the intestines of carp. Therefore, it contains wheat bran in an amount of 1%, as a component that is able to weaken the feed concentrate granule. The degree of starch destruction in the composition of the extruded feed concentrate with the addition of wheat bran reached its maximum and the granule became porous, its hardness decreased. It was detected that when the temperature of the feed concentrate after extrusion rises above +100°C, the biological value of the feed concentrate decreases, and it becomes unbalanced in the content of such essential amino acids as lysine, threonine, methionine and cysteine. Therefore, the optimum product temperature after extrusion is +90-100˚C.The effectiveness of extruded feed concentrate was determined in the composition of granulated feed for two- and threeyear-old carp. The feed ratio of the compound feed containing the feed concentrate was 0.9 units, which is 64% lower than of the control compound feed, which includes a non-extruded grain group that is not balanced in terms of carp needs.

The Future of Low-emission Sustainable Cereal Intensification in SSA

This brief summarizes results of three recent studies that assessed whether Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) can be self-sufficient in cereals (maize, rice, wheat, sorghum, and millet) while minimizing GHG emission by 2050 under different scenarios of intensification on existing cereal area, as opposed to crop land area expansion. The results from three studies suggest that intensification of cereal production with sufficient and efficient use of fertilizers could lead to the lowest GHG emissions among the scenarios studied in future cereal productions in SSA. However, this requires excellent agronomy, including the use of well-adapted cultivars, proper planting densities, good nutrient management and crop protection against weeds, pests, and diseases. It should also be noted that intensification of cereal production may also have additional benefits, including improving the economic profitability for smallholders in SSA.

Public Institutional Structures for Disaster Preparedness in the Cereal Value Chain: A Zambian Case Study

Increasing extreme climate events and cyclonic activities provide clear evidence that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is a hotspot for climate change-driven natural disasters which critically disrupt agricultural production cycles. This is especially true with regard to the production of cereal, produce widely used to represent food security. Although studies have attempted to disentangle the effect of demand vis à vis projected population growth on cereal production across the region, the contradiction between cereal production and climate disaster preparedness remains poorly resolved. Therefore, literature on the subject matter is scanty. The present study is motivated by the need to overcome this paucity of literature and thus, deepen our understanding of cereal production and climate disaster preparedness in the region. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to assess public institutional support structures that are currently being employed for climate disaster preparedness in the cereal value chain across Zambia as perceived by small scale farmers. After a comprehensive assessment of focus group discussions (FGDs), several points emerge specifically highlighting four salient findings: first, results show that a government-led Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is the only strategy particularly targeted at disaster preparedness. All other initiatives are targeted at improving or safeguarding livelihoods with some components having a ripple effect on the cereal value chain. Second, results show that climate forecasts that are supposed to trigger early action are generally characterized by low prediction skill with more false alarms and misses than hits. Third, forecasts were found to lack geographical specificity with generalities over large areas being common thus, diminishing their usefulness at the local scale. Fourth, end-users found forecasts to usually contain technical jargon that is difficult to decipher especially that most small-scale farmers are illiterate. This study concludes that to fully support the cereal value chain and realize food security in Zambia, policy formulation that champion the establishment of an effective early warning and early action system (EWEAS) involving multiple interest groups and actors should be considered a matter of urgency.

Crimean port-cities and their hinterland connections: The dynamics of change, 1800–1917

This article examines the relationships between the three Crimean port-cities of Sevastopol, Theodosia and Evpatoria and their hinterlands, which were defined by the grain export trade. The second half of the nineteenth century was marked by the transformation of the southern region of the Russian Empire into the granary of Europe. Port-cities became dynamic nodes, connecting cereal production in the hinterland of southern Russian and the Mediterranean maritime distribution networks in the Mediterranean. Based mainly on primary Russian and Ukrainian archival sources, this article shows and examines how the development of the Crimean port-cities was determined by connections between ports and their respective hinterlands, the types of commodities exchanged and a variety of internal and external political and economic factors.

Productivity and Efficiency of Precision Farming: The Case of Czech Cereal Production

The paper deals with the sources of competitiveness of Czech cereal production by considering precision farming technology and employing micro-level data collected in the FADN database for the period 2005–2018. The analysis is based on the stochastic frontier modelling of an input distance function in the specification of the four-component model, which currently represents the most advanced approach to technical efficiency analysis. To provide a robust estimate of the model, the paper employs methods which control for the potential endogeneity of netputs in the four-step estimation procedure. Furthermore, the total factor productivity change is calculated using the Törnqvist-Theil index. The results reveal that Czech cereal producers took great advantage of their production possibilities and experienced technological progress, which contributed considerably to productivity dynamics and consequently to an increase in their competitiveness. Precision farming, which is associated with a large number of innovations reflected in technological change and optimal resource use, contributed to higher technical efficiency connected with cost savings in Czech cereal production.

Linking CO2 Emissions and Crop Production: Empirical Evidence from South Asian Countries

It is need of the hour to investigate the impacts of climate parameters on agricultural production in a developing region of South Asia. Therefore, this work attempts to explore the climatic indicators on agricultural production for selected South Asian countries over the annual data of 1961–2016. This study estimates the impacts of rainfall, temperature, rural population, land under cereal production, and CO2 emissions on agricultural production. For empirical analysis, we applied second-generation unit root tests. After examining the order of integration of time series, we check for the co-integration among the variables. Before the co-integration test, we check for cross-section dependence among the variables. CD and LM tests confirm the existence of cross-section dependence. Afterward, we apply Westerlud co-integration test to confirm the strong association among the variables. Further, we applied two methods for long-run coefficients of independent variables. DOLS and FMOLS tests were applied to cross-check the findings. Our findings show that rural population and rainfall are negatively associated with agricultural production. Moreover, temperature, land area under cereal production, and CO2 emissions are positively associated with agricultural production. Our findings shed light on some important policy implications for South Asian countries.