Abstract Improving food security and environmental conservation should be the main targets of innovative farming systems. Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum tillage, crop residue retention and crop rotations has been proposed against poor agricultural productivity and soil degradation. This paper discusses the applicability and potential benefits of CA in Rwanda under the unfolding climate change scenario. The potential and benefits from CA may vary with rainfall regime. In high...
Abstract: In Africa, the human person is the supreme force, the most powerful and dominant among all created beings. While this decreed power makes the lower beings subservient to humanity, it is only intended to be a source of harmony in the advancement of the hospitality and the joy of the human species. Today however, the traditional lifestyles of Africans are threatened with virtual extinction by insensitive development over which the indigenous peoples have no participation. Africa has n...
The study evaluated the relationship between green recruitment and organizational performance infood, beverage and tobacco manufacturing firms in Enugu State. The specific objectives were to:examine the relationship between attracting knowledgeable employees and quality service; evaluatethe relationship between retaining skilled employees and the profitability and identify the relationshipbetween recruiting innovative employees on the sales volume of food, beverage and tobaccomanufacturing fi...
Abstract This study addresses three distinct but interrelated issues in the integration of local food suppliers in modern food distribution in Tanzania. These issues are: What are key factors driving the development of modern food retailing in Tanzania? What factors influence the participation of local modern food suppliers in the industry? And, finally: What policies and strategies can be adopted to increase local suppliers‘ participation in the industry? The study used a critical realism...
Abstract: Climate change continues to affect maize production, food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in most of the developing countries. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices can enhance agricultural production by alleviating adverse climate effects on maize productivity through improved soil moisture storage, water use efficiency, increased soil carbon (C) and nutrient supply with long-term resilience to climate change.
ABSTRACT The current global financial meltdown that began to take effect in late 2008, the worsening environmental crisis, the global food crisis, and the threat of global terrorism have raised serious questions about the stability and security of a world based on capitalism, without pointing to a clear alternative. Policy makers seem to believe that once national economies begin to grow, prosperity and happiness will return.
Mass human starvation is currently likely if global agricultural production is dramatically reduced for several years following a global catastrophe: e.g. super volcanic eruption, asteroid or comet impact, nuclear winter, abrupt climate change, super weed, extirpating crop pathogen, super bacterium, or super crop pest. This study summarizes the severity and probabilities of such scenarios, and provides an order of magnitude technical analysis comparing caloric requirements of all humans for f...
Inflation instantly brings to mind images of rising prices, shrinking paychecks and unhappy consumers, but is inflation all bad? Inflation is defined as a "sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services." Many consumers fear inflation because it reduces the purchasing power of their money”.The influence that inflation has on consumers in Nigeria and other developing nations in Africa can be seen in increase in food prize, fuel price etc. Food price inflation...
ABSTRACT With the growing concerns about the likely implications of climate change, the long term sustainability of conventional agricultural approaches and biodiversity loss have contributed to a growing interest in the potential of the so-called underutilised crops to address food, nutritional, and income security challenges. In support of their wider use, advocates of underutilised crops associate a number of benefits with them. These include agronomic and nutritional benefits such as drou...
Abstract: Background: African swine fever (ASF) is an infectious transboundary animal disease which causes high mortality, approaching 100% in domestic pigs and it is currently considered as the most serious constraint to domestic pig industry and food security globally. Despite regular ASF outbreaks within Malawi, few studies have genetically characterized the causative ASF virus (ASFV). This study aimed at genetic characterization of ASFV responsible for the 2019 outbreak in northern Malaw...
Abstract: Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) plagues threaten agricultural production, food security and the environment across Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Control methods targeting adult desert locusts present significant challenges and financial costs. Recognizing this, we developed a ground-breaking fuzzy set Mamdani type inference model that provides an innovative solution for early warning alerts. The model aids in predicting the juvenile stages of locust development...
Abstract Background Climate is a key input of rain-fed agriculture. Climate variability and change has been the most important determinant of crop yields in Kenya and other parts of the world. However, there has been not much research on local understanding of the effect of climate variability on maize yields in Arid and Semi arid Lands (ASALs) of lower eastern Kenya counties. The effect of three climatic parameters on maize yields on different temporal and spatial scales was evaluated in or...
In recent times, separatist movements in South-East geopolitical zone have stepped-up struggles for the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra through protest and other forms of social mobilization. The protests have triggered tension with security agencies applying excessive force to quell agitations and protests. This paper examines the politics of imbalance played by the Nigerian State towards (Igbo extraction) through non-development of the region and that has triggered the resurg...
Abstract: Disgust and neophobia elicited by whole insect products, has necessitated the need to mask insect-based food products. The physico-chemical parameters, sensory acceptance, and willingness to pay (WTP) for wheat biscuits supplemented with cricket powder was evaluated. The biscuits’ color intensity correlated with the cricket inclusion levels. Spread ration of cricket-enriched-biscuits increased (1.0–1.2-folds), while the hardness and fracturability decreased (1.0–1.3-folds and...
Abstract: One health’ (OH) is a cross-sectoral approach that addresses human, plant, animal, and environmental health problems. The initiative stems from recognition of the convoluted linkages among global health risks and the need for coherent multipronged countermeasures. For agriculture, environmental degradation and biodiversity depletion wrought by heavy reliance on inorganic inputs to meet the needs of the ever-growing human population, are a matter of societal concern. Agroecologica...