Potential Biotechnological Applications of Autophagy for Agriculture

Autophagy is a genetically regulated, eukaryotic cellular degradation system that sequestrates cytoplasmic materials in specialised vesicles, termed autophagosomes, for delivery and breakdown in the lysosome or vacuole. In plants, autophagy plays essential roles in development (e.g., senescence) and responses to abiotic (e.g., nutrient starvation, drought and oxidative stress) and biotic stresses (e.g., hypersensitive response). Initially, autophagy was considered a non-selective bulk degradation mechanism that provides energy and building blocks for homeostatic balance during stress. Recent studies, however, reveal that autophagy may be more subtle and selectively target ubiquitylated protein aggregates, protein complexes and even organelles for degradation to regulate vital cellular processes even during favourable conditions. The selective nature of autophagy lends itself to potential manipulation and exploitation as part of designer protein turnover machinery for the development of stress-tolerant and disease-resistant crops, crops with increased yield potential and agricultural efficiency and reduced post-harvest losses. Here, we discuss our current understanding of autophagy and speculate its potential manipulation for improved agricultural performance.

Digital extension and the development of agricultural performance in Indonesia

The agricultural sector plays an essential role in providing foodstuffs for the population of every country. However, the lack of innovation in agricultural technology and the limited distribution channels for crop yields have caused farmers' welfare levels to be relatively low in various regions. Meanwhile, Smart Agriculture and 4.0 Technologies play a considerable role in increasing the agricultural sector's efficiency. Digitalization has had a significant influence on transforming traditional agricultural systems into data management-based approaches. The Desa Apps is an open access agricultural extension platform developed in Indonesia that facilitates farmers to interact with other farmers to share ideas, innovations, and solutions to face various farm and off-farm obstacles. This paper aims to describe the development platform and identify opportunities related to developing the Desa Apps platform. The results showed that Java and Sumatra islands have good potential for developing the Desa Apps platform. Besides, the registered members with the most significant reporting level are farmers, extension agents, and traders.

Analysis of Agricultural Performance in Burkina Faso Using Data Envelopment Analysis

In this paper, we used the DEA method, to apply to the agriculture sector in BurkinaFaso. We applied the method with forty-one (41) agricultural farmers with data taking into account cultivated area, manual (human) labour, the liquidity fund of the working household, the number of crops (products) and the expected farm incomes. The results highlight the seven (7) technical efficiencies. Taking into account the variable scale yields, fourteen (14) efficient farms are obtained. These results show how non-efficient farms in the DEA sense are indexed to efficient farms that can serve as benchmarks or benchmarks in terms of performance improvement. This study shows that efficiency does not depend on the category of operator but on overall performance (efficiency and productivity).

Changes in Agricultural Performance of Common Buckwheat Induced by Seed Treatment with Cold Plasma and Electromagnetic Field

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of pre-sowing seed treatment with cold plasma (CP) and an electromagnetic field (EMF) on the agricultural performance of two cultivars of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench)—‘VB Vokiai’ and ‘VB Nojai’. For this, the effects of CP and EMF on seed germination, plant growth in the field, photosynthetic efficiency, biomass production, seed yield, and the amount of secondary metabolites and minerals in the harvested seeds were estimated. Although the percentage of seedlings that emerged under field conditions decreased by 11–20%, seed treatments strongly improved buckwheat growth and yield. Irrespective of differences in the dynamics of changes in the growth and photosynthetic activity between the two cultivars, the weight of seeds collected per plant for both cultivars was significantly higher (up to 70–97%) compared to the control. The biochemical composition of the harvested seeds (Fe, Zn, quercetin content) was also altered by seed treatments. Thus, pre-sowing treatment of buckwheat seeds with CP and EMF substantially stimulated plant growth in the field, increased biomass production, seed yield and nutritional quality. The results obtained strongly support the idea that plant seed treatment with physical stressors has great potential for use in agriculture.

Reliability of the Agricultural Extension and Technological Services among Rice Farmers in the Rural Areas of Tanzania

This study provided insights into the availability and use of agricultural information by small scale farmers in the Mbeya Region of Tanzania. The research used structured questionnaires to interview 240 rice farmers in the Mbeya region. The findings revealed that farmers accessed agricultural information from various agents including local government extension staff, neighbors and friends, advertisements, electronic media including the internet, television, radio, and other channels. The identified technological information application methods included by lectures, field demonstrations, exposure visits to various places, and printed production. The majority of farmers perceived to have dissatisfied (43%), strongly dissatisfied (25%), strongly satisfied (20%), satisfied (8%), and no opinions (4%) concerning accessibility to agricultural information and technological services. The majority of farmers claimed that both agricultural information and technological communication are strongly needed for agricultural performance. The study suggests that government and non-government organizations should collaborate to bridge the existing information-sharing gap between farmers and information providers. Keywords: extension communication, technological information, rural areas, rice farmers, Tanzania.

Assessment of Agricultural Performance of Districts of Punjab Based On Composite Agricultural Indicators Using Grey Relational Analysis

The province of Punjab is considered the breadbasket of Pakistan. This study is aimed to evaluate and hierarchicalize the districts of Punjab based on agricultural indicators. It follows a ranking approach that uses secondary cross-sectional data obtained from Punjab Development Statistics 2016. This study has employed Grey System Theory and used GRA. It is a seminal study that uses a unique methodology that has integrated thirteen different indicators of agricultural development in one mathematical model and assigned a distinct composite grade to every district. Findings revealed that district Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar have the highest Grey Relational Grade (GRG), hence depict the best agricultural performance in Punjab, whereas district Mianwali has the lowest GRG and accordingly least performance. This research provides insight to the policymakers, which will help them to take corrective measures and/or adjust the agricultural development policies