Weather patterns, food security and humanitarian response in sub-Saharan Africa

Although considerable achievements in the global reduction of hunger and poverty have been made, progress in Africa so far has been very limited. At present, a third of the African population faces widespread hunger and chronic malnutrition and is exposed to a constant threat of acute food crisis and famine. The most affected are rural households whose livelihood is heavily dependent on traditional rainfed agriculture. Rainfall plays a major role in determining agricultural production and hence the economic and social well being of rural communities. The rainfall pattern in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by large-scale intra-seasonal and inter-annual climate variability including occasional El Ni?o events in the tropical Pacific resulting in frequent extreme weather event such as droughts and floods that reduce agricultural outputs resulting in severe food shortages. Households and communities facing acute food shortages are forced to adopt coping strategies to meet the immediate food requirements of their families. These extreme responses may have adverse long-term, impacts on households' ability to have sustainable access to food as well as the environment. The HIV/AIDS crisis has also had adverse impacts on food production activities on the continent. In the absence of safety nets and appropriate financial support mechanisms, humanitarian aid is required to enable households effectively cope with emergencies and manage their limited resources more efficiently. Timely and appropriate humanitarian aid will provide households with opportunities to engage in productive and sustainable livelihood strategies. Investments in poverty reduction efforts would have better impact if complemented with timely and predictable response mechanisms that would ensure the protection of livelihoods during crisis periods whether weather or conflict-related. With an improved understanding of climate variability including El Ni?o, the implications of weather patterns for the food security and vulnerability of rural communities have become more predictable and can be monitored effectively. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how current advances in the understanding of climate variability, weather patterns and food security could contribute to improved humanitarian decision-making. The paper will propose new approaches for triggering humanitarian responses to weather-induced food crises.     

Prediction and prevention of famine

In general, famines have become less frequent and of decreasing magnitude in recent decades, a generalization to which sub-Saharan Africa is the striking exception. The underlying factors preventing famine continue to weaken in sub-Saharan Africa, while they grow stronger elsewhere. The basic elements of famine prevention are: a substantial surplus of agricultural production beyond the subsistence needs of the rural population; highly developed transportation systems within rural areas, between rural and related urban areas, and with the rest of the world; and a democratic form of government. The first makes a shortage of food and income to buy food less likely, the second makes it possible to deal with food and income shortages if they do occur, and the third ensures that necessary and feasible actions will be taken. In a democratic framework a free press brings attention to famine even in isolated areas, and public opinion refuses to countenance inaction by the bureaucracy. Once conditions of famine arise, market mechanisms concentrate food where the purchasing power exists, drawing food from the rural to the urban areas and from the poor to the rich. In such circumstances governments must take direct action to prevent starvation. Famine is predicted by successive years of poor crops, a rapid rise in food prices, a decline in the prices of goods that the poor sell (particularly including the livestock of pastoralists), and a decline in employment.     

OBPC Symposium: maize 2004 &; beyond—Can agricultural biotechnology contribute to global food security?

Summary Bioengineering approaches provide unprecedented opportunities for reducing poverty, food insecurity, child malnutrition, and natural resource degradation. Genetic engineering offers outstanding potential to increase the efficiency of crop improvement. Thus agricultural biotechnology could enhance global food production and availability in a sustainable way. Small farmers in developing countries are faced with many problems and constraints which biotechnology may assist. Yet, there are varying levels of opposition to the use of this technology in most countries and it is especially intense in Europe. While there is certain public apprehension with the use of bioengineering in food improvement, the primary hurdles facing this technology are the stringent and burdensome regulatory requirements for commercialization, opposition from the special interest groups, apprehension by the food industry especially with the whole foods, and trade barriers including rigid policies on traceability and labeling. Bioengineered crops such as soybean, maize, cotton, and canola with a few traits have already made a remarkable impaet on food production and environmental quality. But, in the developing world, bioengineering of crops such as bananas, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, sorghum, rice, maize, wheat, millet, and legumes, along with livestock, can elearly contribute to global food security. However, the integration of biotechnology into agricultural research in developing countries faces many challenges which must be addressed: financial, technical, political, environmental, activism, intellectual-property, biosafety, and trade-related issues. To ensure that developing countries can harness the benefit of this technology with minimal problems, concerted efforts must be pursued to create an awareness of its potential benefits and to address the concerns related to its use through dialog among the various stakeholders: policy makers, scientists, trade groups, food industry, consumer organizations, farmer groups, media, and non-governmental organizations. Biotechnology holds great promise as a new tool in the scientific toolkit for generating applied agricultural technologies; however, per se it is not a panacea for the worlds problems of hunger and poverty.     

The cult of the amateur in agriculture threatens food security

The incorporation of science and technology into agriculture has led to enormous growth in crop yields, providing food security in many countries. From the 1950s onwards there has been increasing interference in agricultural policy by a few scientists who are marginal to agriculture and from a variety of unqualified groups. These groups and individuals have used fear and anxiety and have greatly exaggerated minor problems to persuade an unqualified public of supposed dangers in food and to try and change agricultural policy. Fear and emotion do not lead to good policy, and the cult of the amateur that has developed could have serious repercussions on vital food security and future agriculture in developing countries; it must be soundly rejected.     

Agricultural policy and sustainable livestock development

Future agricultural and rural development is, to a large extent, influenced by the projected food needs of 2.5 billion people expected to swell the world population by 2020. This increase will require more food in general and, in view of recent experience in East Asia, more animal products. To achieve this increase will require judicious use of resources, and trade, especially in those countries where natural resources are insufficient to support food production. Achieving food sufficiency in a sustainable manner is a major challenge for farmers, agro-industries, researchers and governments. The latter play an important role as many of the farmers' choices are, to a large extent, directed by government or supra-government, often through macro- and micro-economic policy. In many countries the economic, environmental, trade and agricultural policies have not been conducive to an agricultural development that is risk-free with respect to the environment, animal welfare or public health. The recent decline of government support in agriculture forced farmers in Western countries to think about more risk adverse agricultural practices and more efficient production systems. On the other hand, many countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as other developing countries, are still going through a painful process of adjustment to new market conditions. International banks and development agencies have a mandate to help developing countries, but are somewhat restricted both by needing to work directly with governments and by their perceived dogmatic approach to development. Changing policies do, now and in the future, also affect the development of animal disease control programmes, including the control of parasitic diseases. On the one hand there is an increasing interest in risk-free control practices, and on the other hand a demand for greater regulatory control over the production process. As parasitic diseases of animals are closely linked to the environment (i.e. grazing and waste management) and public health (i.e. parasitic zoonoses), the new interest in sustainable agriculture provides a challenge for those concerned with the control and prevention of animal parasitism.     

The assessment of total energy expenditure of female farmers under field conditions.

The paper reviews methods, and their difficulties, in the measurement of the daily energy expenditure of rural women under field conditions in developing countries. Since all methods need to be validated against a reference method which is usually based on indirect calorimetry, examples of the use of this technique are given. The energy costs of most agricultural and daily tasks of rural women in developing countries have been measured. Large intra- and inter-individual variations in the cost of a single activity occur, so repeated measurements are needed to obtain a valid mean energy cost for a specific activity for a homogeneous group of individuals. Much work remains to be done on the assessment of the duration and the intensity of the physical activity of the rural adolescent and adult female population. Studies indicate that the workload of most rural women in developing countries is excessive and frequently associated with acute poverty.     

Cassava: constraints to production and the transfer of biotechnology to African laboratories

Knowledge and technology transfer to African institutes is an important objective to help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Plant biotechnology in particular enables innovative advances in agriculture and industry, offering new prospects to promote the integration and dissemination of improved crops and their derivatives from developing countries into local markets and the global economy. There is also the need to broaden our knowledge and understanding of cassava as a staple food crop. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a vital source of calories for approximately 500 million people living in developing countries. Unfortunately, it is subject to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses that impact on production, consumption, marketability and also local and country economics. To date, improvements to cassava have been led via conventional plant breeding programmes, but with advances in molecular-assisted breeding and plant biotechnology new tools are being developed to hasten the generation of improved farmer-preferred cultivars. In this review, we report on the current constraints to cassava production and knowledge acquisition in Africa, including a case study discussing the opportunities and challenges of a technology transfer programme established between the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute in Tanzania and Europe-based researchers. The establishment of cassava biotechnology platform(s) should promote research capabilities in African institutions and allow scientists autonomy to adapt cassava to suit local agro-ecosystems, ultimately serving to develop a sustainable biotechnology infrastructure in African countries.     

Agroterrorism in the U.S.: key security challenge for the 21st century

Agriculture is one of the easiest sectors of the U.S. economy to disrupt, and its disruption could have catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and world economies. Agriculture in the U.S. accounts for 13% of the current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment for 15% of the population. It produces high-quality, cheap, plentiful food for domestic consumption and accounts for more than $50 billion in exports. The likelihood of terrorist acts interrupting the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products is high: A number of different possible plant or animal pathogens could cause harm or loss of production, and even an act of agroterrorism that did not result in the destruction of foodstuffs or interruptions in the food supply could have a psychological impact. A number of recent unintentional events and epidemics have prompted the U.S. and other countries to provide resources to counteract contagious diseases and contain their impact, including increased funding to federal agencies that are responsible for protecting domestic agriculture. This article presents recommendations to protect agriculture, including changing the way agriculture is viewed on the federal level and increasing the resources to protect agriculture from terrorist attack.     

广西灵川县种植业的可持续发展

广西是我国南方农业大省(区),明确其农业发展的制约因素,提出具体的解决措施,实现农业可持续发展,对解决农业、农村和农民问题,促进经济持续、快速、健康发展,实现社会主义现代化建设战略目标具有重要的理论和现实意义。主要采用了参与性农户评估方法(PRA),通过随机入户方式,与农户面对面交流,并结合调查问卷,对广西桂林市灵川县11个乡镇的农户进行了调查访问,为方便研究和数据处理,在数据分析过程中将该县11个乡镇分为3个片区:东部片区、中部片区、北部片区,对比3组农户的文化素质、种植制度、冬季农业现状、农业需求和农田水利设施等方面问题,探讨广西农业可持续发展的制约因素,并提出相应的对策,以期为广西农业可持续发展提供理论依据。调查结果表明,虽然目前灵川县农业取得众多发展成就,但仍存在以下几个方面的问题,严重影响了该县种植业可持续发展的进程。一是种植制度结构单一,二是冬季农业发展薄弱,三是种植技术贫乏,四是基础设施建设不完善等,因此,为促进灵川县种植业可持续发展,亟需采取以下对策和措施:调整作物种植结构,建立合理的种植制度;大力发展冬季农业;满足农民最迫切的农业需求;加强农业基础设施建设等。     

Do increases in agricultural yield spare land for nature?

Feeding a rapidly expanding human population will require a large increase in the supply of agricultural products during the coming decades. This may lead to the transformation of many landscapes from natural vegetation cover to agricultural land use, unless increases in crop yields reduce the need for new farmland. Here, we assess the evidence that past increases in agricultural yield have spared land for wild nature. We investigated the relationship between the change in the combined energy yield of the 23 most energetically important food crops over the period 1979–1999 and the change in per capita cropland area for 124 countries over the same period. Per capita area of the 23 staple crops tended to decrease in developing countries where large yield increases occurred. However, this was counteracted by a tendency for the area used to grow crops other than staples to increase in the countries where staple crop yields increased. There remained a weak tendency in developing countries for the per capita area of all cropland to decline as staple crop yield increased, a pattern that was most evident in developing countries with the highest per capita food supplies. In developed countries, there was no evidence that higher staple crop yields were associated with decreases in per capita cropland area. This may be because high agricultural subsidies in developed countries override any land-sparing pattern that might otherwise occur. Declines in the area of natural forest were smaller in countries where the yield of staple crops increased most, when the negative effects of human population increases on forest area were controlled for. Our results show that land-sparing is a weak process that occurs under a limited set of circumstances, but that it can have positive outcomes for the conservation of wild nature.     

A Comprehensive Energy and Economic Assessment of Biofuels: When “Green” Is Not Enough

Referee: Dr. Charles A. S. Hall, Department of Environmental Studies, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210 Biofuel production systems are sometimes claimed to be able to fill in for future fossil fuel shortages as well as to decrease carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. As such, they are often promoted as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels. I present a comprehensive, system-based case study of biofuel production from maize or corn (Zea mays L.) and evaluate it critically in this review. The case study is taken as an example of the comprehensive approach that I suggest for any energy crop. I conclude that the biofuel option on a large scale is not a viable alternative based on economic, energy and eMergy (amount of available energy [exergy] of one form [usually solar] that is directly or indirectly required to provide a given flow or storage of exergy or matter) analyses of the case study data and estimated possible improvement of yield and efficiency. This is true for developed countries due to their huge energy demand compared with what biofuel options are able to supply as well as for developing countries due to the low yield of their agriculture and competition for land and water for food production. However, biofuels may contribute to optimizing the energy and resource balance of agricultural, livestock, or industrial production systems at an appropriate scale. I present a proposal to integrate ethanol production with industrial activities within a “zero emission framework” as a suggestion for optimization strategies capable of making the biofuel option more sustainable and profitable in those cases where it is appropriate.     

New technology and its role in enhancing global food production

The transfer in the past 3 decades of modern agricultural technology to countries of the Third World has led to a steady improvement in global food production. The results have not been evenly distributed, however, and serious problems remain. Modern biotechnology may contribute to solving some of the problems of high input costs and may also contribute to decreasing the risks associated with agriculture in developing economies. Several problems must be overcome, however. Among these are finding ways to bring the advanced technological capabilities of private companies, both large and small, to the international agricultural research network where commercial incentives are not strong or are inappropriate. Also, unless and until severe countervailing forces, such as population growth rates and deterioration of the environment, are brought under control the spread of new agricultural technology will be of little consequence in the most difficult famine-prone situations.     

The Origin of the USDA Regional Biomass Research Centers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Regional Biomass Research Centers (RBRC) were created to contribute to the planning, research, and development of entire long-term sustainable biofuel production supply chains based on agricultural and forest-based feedstocks. The intent of the centers is to provide a catalyst that links feedstock genetic development, sustainable production and management, logistics, conversion, co-product production, distribution, and market demand suited to the available economic, social, and natural resources within different regions. The centers provide a coordinated, region-based research focus designed with relatively short-term deliverables to help accelerate the commercial production of biomass and other biofuel feedstocks. The centers provide a leadership structure for coordinating biomass research across the country, providing a national perspective that complements other USDA agency efforts designed to help US rural communities participate in the emerging biofuels and biobased products economy. Through coordination with the RBRC, USDA research and service agency programs and resources have been leveraged with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other federal department, university, and private industry efforts to help accelerate commercial advancement of advanced biofuel production to promote rural economic opportunities and achieve transportation biofuel policy goals.     

Economic impact of transgenic crops in developing countries

Transgenic crops are being adopted rapidly at the global level, but only a few developing countries are growing them in significant quantities. Why are these crops so successful in some countries but not in others? Farm level profitability ultimately determines whether farmers adopt and retain a new technology, but this depends on much more than technical performance. Recent economic studies in developing countries find positive, but highly variable, economic returns to adopting transgenic crops. These studies confirm that institutional factors such as national agricultural research capacity, environmental and food safety regulations, intellectual property rights and agricultural input markets matter at least as much as the technology itself in determining the level and distribution of economic benefits.     

A review of research on Sunn Pest {Eurygaster integriceps Puton (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae)} management published 2004–2016

Wheat is an important food crop that provides over 40% of the per capita dietary supply of calories and proteins in many developing countries. Wheat production has a crucial role in food security and the global economy. With the world's population estimated to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, the demand for wheat is expected to increase 60%. Sunn Pest, Eurygaster integriceps Puton (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae), is one of the major constraints to wheat production in Central and West Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa. The economic impact of Sunn Pest is around 42 million USD for the region and that is only the cost of the chemicals used for its management. Application of chemical insecticides has been the main strategy for management of Sunn Pest. However, emergence of resistance in Sunn Pest populations against most pesticides and increased awareness of their adverse impacts on the environment have prompted investigation of alternative approaches. This review provides information on the most current literatures on Sunn Pest management with emphasis on practices such as application of chemical insecticides, insect growth regulators (IGRs) and anti-juvenile hormones, use of Sunn Pest egg parasitoids, entomopathogenic nematodes, entomopathogenic fungi, use of digestive enzyme inhibitors and development of resistant wheat varieties.     

Artisanal Fisheries Research: A Need for Globalization?

Given limited funds for research and widespread degradation of ecosystems, environmental scientists should geographically target their studies where they will be most effective. However, in academic areas such as conservation and natural resource management there is often a mismatch between the geographic foci of research effort/funding and research needs. The former frequently being focused in the developed world while the latter is greater in the biodiverse countries of the Global South. Here, we adopt a bibliometric approach to test this hypothesis using research on artisanal fisheries. Such fisheries occur throughout the world, but are especially prominent in developing countries where they are important for supporting local livelihoods, food security and poverty alleviation. Moreover, most artisanal fisheries in the Global South are unregulated and unmonitored and are in urgent need of science-based management to ensure future sustainability. Our results indicate that, as predicted, global research networks and centres of knowledge production are predominantly located in developed countries, indicating a global mismatch between research needs and capacity.     

Unravelling the anthropogenic pathways of phosphorus in the food production and consumption system of Bangladesh through the lens of substance flow analysis

Phosphorus (P) is central to food production. Current understanding about the global phosphorus system is dominated by studies in wealthier nations where soil fertility, fertilizer supply chains, and agronomic tracking have long been established. In contrast, developing nations are experiencing major agricultural transitions and the associated phosphorus flows remain a significant knowledge gap. We compiled and analyzed several years of recent agricultural datasets for Bangladesh, currently the eighth most populous nation, using substance flow analysis for phosphorus. From 2000 to 2016, rice production increased by >50% and remained the dominant crop with remarkably higher phosphorus flow (49.96 kt in 2016) than all other crops. Phosphorus content of livestock products in 2016 exceeded 6.00 kt, more than double in the year 2000, driven primarily by phosphorus in milk and secondarily in meat/eggs. These agricultural changes coincided with a doubling of national phosphorus fertilizer consumption since 2000, a fourfold increase since the global food crisis (2009), and a pronounced rise in the phosphorus import dependency ratio, which was the highest among all countries compared. In turn, during 2010s fertilizer phosphorus use exceeded phosphorus as food + feed production leading to soil phosphorus accumulation, and loss as burned manure became one of the largest phosphorus flows in the entire system, equivalent to half of fertilizer use. This dramatic reconfiguration of the Bangladesh phosphorus system illustrates an important case of agricultural expansion and intensification that is still playing out, with similar situations occurring in developing nations where population growth rates are high, and access to commercial fertilizers has risen.     

The economic determinants of land degradation in developing countries

The following paper investigates the economic determinants of land degradation in developing countries. The main trends examined are rural households'' decisions to degrade as opposed to conserve land resources, and the expansion of frontier agricultural activity that contributes to forest and marginal land conversion. These two phenomena appear often to be linked. In many developing areas, a poor rural household''s decision whether to undertake long-term investment in improving existing agricultural land must be weighed against the decision to abandon this land and migrate to environmentally fragile areas. Economic factors play a critical role in determining these relationships. Poverty, imperfect capital markets and insecure land tenure may reinforce the tendency towards short-term time horizons in production decisions, and may bias land use decisions against long-term land management strategies. In periods of commodity booms and land speculation, wealthier households generally take advantage of their superior political and market power to ensure initial access to better quality resources, in order to capture a larger share of the resource rents. Poorer households are confined either to marginal environmental areas where resource rents are limited, or only have access to resources once they are degraded and rents dissipated.<br>Overall trends in land degradation and deforestation are examined, followed by an overview of rural households'' resource management decisions with respect to land management, frontier agricultural expansion, and migration from existing agricultural land to frontiers. Finally, the discussion focuses on the scope for policy improvements to reduce economic constraints to effective land management. <br>     

The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems

Almost every ecosystem has been amended so that plants and animals can be used as food, fibre, fodder, medicines, traps and weapons. Historically, wild plants and animals were sole dietary components for hunter–gatherer and forager cultures. Today, they remain key to many agricultural communities. The mean use of wild foods by agricultural and forager communities in 22 countries of Asia and Africa (36 studies) is 90–100 species per location. Aggregate country estimates can reach 300–800 species (e.g. India, Ethiopia, Kenya). The mean use of wild species is 120 per community for indigenous communities in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of these wild foods are actively managed, suggesting there is a false dichotomy around ideas of the agricultural and the wild: hunter–gatherers and foragers farm and manage their environments, and cultivators use many wild plants and animals. Yet, provision of and access to these sources of food may be declining as natural habitats come under increasing pressure from development, conservation-exclusions and agricultural expansion. Despite their value, wild foods are excluded from official statistics on economic values of natural resources. It is clear that wild plants and animals continue to form a significant proportion of the global food basket, and while a variety of social and ecological drivers are acting to reduce wild food use, their importance may be set to grow as pressures on agricultural productivity increase.