Viruses Infecting Trees and Herbs That Produce Edible Fleshy Fruits with a Prominent Value in the Global Market: An Evolutionary Perspective

Trees and herbs that produce fruits represent the most valuable agricultural food commodities in the world. However, the yield of these crops is not fully achieved due to biotic factors such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Viruses are capable of causing alterations in plant growth and development, thereby impacting the yield of their hosts significantly. In this work, we first compiled the world′s most comprehensive list of known edible fruits that fits our definition. Then, plant viruses infecting those trees and herbs that produce fruits with commercial importance in the global market were identified. The identified plant viruses belong to 30 families, most of them containing single-stranded RNA genomes. Importantly, we show the overall picture of the host range for some virus families following an evolutionary approach. Further, the current knowledge about plant-virus interactions, focusing on the main disorders they cause, as well as yield losses, is summarized. Additionally, since accurate diagnosis methods are of pivotal importance for viral diseases control, the current and emerging technologies for the detection of these plant pathogens are described. Finally, the most promising strategies employed to control viral diseases in the field are presented, focusing on solutions that are long-lasting.

Assessing Gender Equality in Climate Change Advocacy Campaign for Sustainable Agricultural Food Security in Uganda

This chapter examines climate change and variability emergency disaster risks on agricultural food security of the local communities in Africa with a focus on gender equality lens in Uganda. Ugandan women contribute up to 75% of domestic food production and yet they are often overburdened with reproduction, household management, gender-specific discrimination, and adverse climate change effects like agricultural droughts, flash flooding, violent windstorms, or water stress. To ensure sustainable food security in the face of climate change vulnerability risks, the role of women is vital. Communication strategy to promote local climate information service (CIS) delivery system has been developed by the local government district planners in the park areas, but there is a lack of capacity to raise public awareness of the gender equality for the empowerment of women and girls for sustainable food security through agriculture production in Uganda for enhanced livelihood assets.

Evaluating agricultural food supply chain resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

With the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural food supply chains (AFSC) have suffered from unprecedented challenges and disruption. AFSC must possess extremely high levels of resilience when confronted by the pandemic. In this study, we have identified six important resilience criteria and eighteen sub-criteria of AFSC in the context of the COVID-19. The research presents the conceptual mixed multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technology to prioritize the resilience criteria based on understanding their interrelationships. Results identify three essential resilience criteria, namely “coordination and collaboration in the supply chain”, “efficiency”, and “strategic management” and the top five key sub-criteria as “velocity”, “visibility”, “continuity management”, “connectedness”, “collaborative planning and replenishment”. The framework proposed in this study contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding towards building resilience within AFSC, and has the potential to be extended to other types of supply chains in response to COVID-19.

Feedstock: A Solution to Energy and Environment Sustainability

Background: Scarcity of resources, the energy crisis, environmental pollution and climate change are the central challenges that people will have to face in the years to come. Nowadays, agricultural, food and industrial waste is generated in large quantities, which poses a serious problem in its management and disposal. Objective: Feedstocks play a vital role in solving energy and environmental problems. All renewable, biological substances that are used directly as fuel or converted into another form of energy or fuel products are referred to as feedstocks. Biomass is also a clean and renewable feedstock option; also be an excellent alternative to conventional fuels. Method: Renewable fuels are cleaner than traditional coal and petroleum, which reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Various methods could be used to achieve sustainable development methods that not only lead to better waste management. Nevertheless, they could also generate industrially important materials, chemicals, fuels and valuable end products from waste. Results: This review provides an overview of the global scenario for the feedstock. In addition, this paper examines the role of feedstocks in solving energy and environmental issues. Conclusion: This paper sheds light on the issue of environmental impact in order to achieve overall sustainability. Finally, the merits of the feedstock technology prospects were addressed.

How COVID-19 Affects Agricultural Food Sales: Based on the Perspective of China’s Agricultural Listed Companies’ Financial Statements

Agricultural food is generally regarded as the basis of “national security” by most countries. Through marketing strategies, promoting the sales of agri-food products in the context of a pandemic is of great significance to national food security and economic growth. The purpose of our study is to understand how the COVID-19 crisis affects the sales of agri-food products as well as the organizational and management changes it brings. By understanding those points above, we can address the problem and policy challenges to better promote the recovery of the agri-food sector from the effects caused by COVID-19. The demand is today overwhelmingly urgent. Based on the data of China’s agricultural-listed companies from 2015 to 2020, this study adopted the perspective of financial statements and conducted empirical analysis through the translog revenue function, and the results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the sales of agri-food products, and the sales of agri-food products by large agricultural companies have fallen more than those of small- and medium-sized ones. Based on the results of the study, the government can consider the policy of providing financial support and temporary subsidies to agri-food enterprises during the pandemic, while agri-food enterprises actively practice digital marketing to reduce the adverse impact of COVID-19 on agri-food sales.

POTENSI LIMBAH PERTANIAN TANAMAN PANGAN SEBAGAI PAKAN TERNAK ROMINASIA DI KECAMATAN WAELATAKABUPATEN BURU

Livestock is an important component to fulfil food need and as source of protein for the community which increase annually. These research objective was to determine the type of agricultural food crop waste, how much production of dry matter, crude protein, and Total Gigability Nutrit and also to find out how much the capacity of agricultural food crop waste in the Waelata District, Buru Regency. Feedstuff development is directed to optimize the use of local feed source, in particular crops waste. The results showed that crops waste available in Waelata were dominated respectively by rice (Oryza sativa L.) 92.17 %, sweet potato (Ipomoae batatas) 2.81 %, corn (zea mays ssp.) 1.89 %, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) 1.89 %, and cassava (manihot esculenta crantz) 1.12 %. Total dry matter production of the crops waste were rice (Oryza sativa L.) 2.52 tones/ha, sweet potato (Ipomoae batatas) 1.78 tone/ha, corn (zea mays ssp.) 0.63 tone/ha, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) 1.67 tones/ha, and cassava (manihot esculenta crantz) 0.41 tones/ha. Capacity of crops waste to support livestock systems based on dry matter, crude protein, Total Digestible Nutrient was respectivelly e.317 UT, 263 UT, and 3.134 UT.

Mexican native varieties and plant health in the context of COVID-19: The case of Solanum lycopersicum

<p>The importance of native Mexican varieties in agricultural food production is analyzed, discussed and reflected upon, particularly regarding emergency situations such as the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The main example used is the tomato, <em>Solanum lycopersicum</em>, comparatively with commercial varieties. Evidence is provided of the higher tolerance of native varieties to pests and diseases. When grafted onto commercial varieties, they maintained their tolerance, but also increased their yield. Before and perhaps during the pandemic, native tomato varieties have been an important food source for several marginalized communities in Mexico. The analysis suggests that the agricultural food production based on native varieties may help solve problems in the supply chain of imported agricultural inputs, while also solving the dependency on agrochemicals, fertilizers and commercial varieties, and promoting family-produced foods. A lower dependence on industrialized inputs would contribute towards self-sufficiency and food sovereignty, with nutritious and innocuous foods. In times of a pandemic, the family production model in marginalized rural settings would help reduce the mobility of people and the risk of contagion, increase food security and reduce SARS-CoV-2 risk factors due to the incidence of chronic diseases, particularly metabolic diseases.</p>

Evaluation of the determinants of food security within the COVID-19 pandemic circumstances- a particular case of Shaanxi, China

Background Agricultural food production and distribution industries may play a vital role in determining the current conditions of any country’s food security and sustainable development goals. This paper examined the determinants of food security within three distinct aspects (effective utilization of food, food availability, and food access) within the COVID-19 epidemic situation. Methods The qualitative set-up of the study comprised with the identification of drivers by critical analysis of published papers and discussion held with some practitioners. The quantitative data used in this research were collected from a survey covering the agricultural food supply industry in China (Shaanxi Province). The survey was conducted from November to December 2020 and we mainly focus on three aspects of food security (effective utilization of food, food availability, and food access). The core analytical assumptions were made by employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results After analyzing the data collected from 257 agricultural food productions and distribution personnel along with the hypothesis testing, it found that the determinants of the effective utilization of food were positively related to the determinants of food access (β = 0.291, p = 0.029) and food availability (β = 0.298, p = 0.011), and the determinants of food availability were positively related to the food access determinants (β = 0.128, p = 0.002). The association and variance values between food availability and food access were 0.659 and 0.407; the association and variance values between for effective utilization of food and food availability aspects were 0.465 and 0.298, and between effective utilization of food and economy were 0.508 and 0.475. Conclusion The study critically evaluated the interconnection among the crucial determinants within the banner of three dimensions, which will act as a major contribution to existing literature. This research will help the government and industry to develop policies and strategies for the successful implementation of all the associated determinants of food security in terms of the epidemic situation.