Search results

In recent times, science and technology has taken a front seat in revolutionizing agricultural production and food processing globally with noticeable impact on food, nutrition and family health. This study was carried out to have a critical review of genetically modified (GM) foods and the use of GM and biofortified crops for food security in developing countries where foods are not adequately available and people are not food secured.

A critical review of GM foods was undertaken and the use of GM and biofortified crops for food security in developing countries where foods are not adequately available and people are not food secured was carried out.

Currently, there are no recent patents on GM and biofortified crops and this shows that there are more works to be done by policymakers, regulatory agencies, consumers and right organizations on environmental, health and biosafety of GM and biofortified crops. Advances in science and technology have changed our relationship with nature which enables crops to be modified and improved through selective breeding to obtain more stronger and productive crops. However, despite the benefits and improvements from GM and biofortified crops, controversy and arguments have continued to trail the consumption of GM and biofortified crops because of the perceived safety issues. Although genetic engineering has helped in developing fast-growing and pest-resistant crops, as well as reduction in use of pesticides, however, its impact on the environment and the consumers cannot be overemphasized. In conclusion, this study showed that the role of GM and biofortified crops for food security is the subject of public controversy; however, genetic engineering has the potential to improve world food production, increase food availability and influence farmers’ income and thus their economic access to food but the attendance potential risks related to food safety and avoidable environmental hazards should not be overlooked. There is need for comprehensive information on the impact of GM and biofortified crops on environment, human health and biosafety of the crops.

Few available literatures on the subject matter were critically reviewed.

The paper helps in creating awareness for more in-depth research on GM and biofortified crops and their impacts on food security in developing countries where foods are not adequately available and people are not food secured.

This research is of value to the researchers, policymakers and regulatory agencies in developing countries on food safety.

The nexus between sustainable agri-food production and food security outcomes of farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is attracting policy attention. This study analyzes the effects of crop diversity on the incidence of food scarcity, dietary diversity, and the sale and consumption of own crops.

The study uses panel data collected in 2015 and 2018 on a randomly selected sample of 2553 households from 49 villages in northern Ghana. The study employed a fixed effects modeling approach in the empirical analysis.

The study finds that crop diversity is positively associated with better dietary diversity, reduced hunger, lower food expenditure, and higher consumption of own produce. The results show positive effects of crop diversity on the total harvested output and sale of agricultural production. Whilst sales improved sustainable food and nutrition security by providing purchasing power to buy nutritional inputs in the market, consumption of own produce rather improved food availability by reducing food scarcity and malnutrition.

Crop diversity is one of the pathways for promoting sustainable agri-food production systems to ensure the food and nutritional security of vulnerable populations and promote biodiversity to achieve environmental goals in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop diversity reduces food expenditure and raises rural incomes through improved outputs and sales, which empowers farm households to diversify their dietary options to be able to overcome incidences of hunger and malnutrition in periods of food scarcity.

The present study improves the understanding of sustainable agri-food production through crop diversity and its implications on food and nutrition security outcomes. The panel data and fixed effects modelling approach address the endogeneity problem between crop diversity and household tastes and preferences.

Research at agricultural universities often generates food crops that are edible by‐products of the research process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that affect decision‐making around the disposal of these crops. Understanding decision‐making suggests how universities might include food crop production into campus sustainability assessments.

A qualitative, ethnographic approach is used as, little is known about decision‐making on edible crops at universities; decision‐making was expected to be highly location‐specific and complex. In‐depth interviews with operations staff and participant observation were used.

Decision‐making is decentralized and often reflects the values of individual staff regarding the value of the food. Staff use an informal cost‐benefit analysis that reflects the economic, social, environmental trade‐offs of their perceived disposal options. Many decisions reflect a sustainability ethic regarding the higher use‐value of food crops while others reflect instrumental concerns about disposing of unwanted waste products. The complexity of decision‐making suggests it would be difficult to develop a quantitative instrument that would provide meaningful data for a campus sustainability assessment.

Food production provides another opportunity to improve campus sustainability efforts. Also, qualitative work may be useful to understanding such systems.

The paper highlights a part of the campus food systems that is rarely studied: the campus as a food producer. It also provides an in‐depth illustration of how qualitative methods may be used to inform the design of campus assessments.

During the 1950‐1979 period, the governments of Central America often pursued “cheap‐food” policies. A general‐equilibrium model is employed to show how these policies contributed to the resource‐allocation patterns observed in the region during this period. The model also shows how cheap‐food policies contributed to the observed shift in the functional distribution of income from wages to rents and profits. An empirical test verifies the contribution of bean‐pricing policy to the shift in land resources away from food crops in Costa Rica, and the causes behind the relaxation of cheap‐food policies in the 1980s are discussed.

Public and private policy responses to the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops have differed across countries and regions, resulting in market fragmentation that is in conflict with the entry mode strategy of standardisation that has dominated the food distribution system for a century. To deal with the new market reality, an alternative entry mode strategy must be established which is capable of segregation – or identity preservation (IP) – of the commodity supply system. A multi‐mode strategy is presented that combines the economic transaction cost perspective with the institutional theory perspective. A seemingly paradoxical result emerges: standardisation is the solution to market differentiation. That is, an IP entry mode strategy must first be built on a foundation of standardised norms and protocols, which then makes it easier to target specific entry mode strategies to meet the divergent export market access rules resulting from the differential public policy and private strategies in various countries and regions.

The purpose of this paper is to delve into an extensive analysis of different food crops, ranging from bananas, beans, brinjals, cabbages, chillies, creepers, groundnuts, mixed vegetables, pineapples and tomatoes, over three decades. To maintain an ever-increasing population level, much stress is exerted on the production of food crops. However, till date, very little is known about how climate change is influencing the production of food crops in Mauritius, an upper-income developing country found in the Indian Ocean and highly vulnerable to climate risks.

Based on the interactions between production of crops, harvest area for crops and weather metrics, a vector autoregressive model (VAR) system is applied comprising production of each crop with their respective harvest area. Weather metrics are then entered into as exogeneous components of the model. The underlying rationale is that weather metrics are not caused by production or harvest area and should thereby be exogeneously treated. Should there be cointegration between the endogenous components, the vector error correction model (VECM) will be used. Diagnostic tests will also be entertained in terms of ensuring the endogeneity states of the presumed variables under investigation. The impact of harvest area on product is plain, as higher the harvest area, the higher is the production. However, a bi-directional causality can also manifest in the case that higher production leads towards lower harvest area in the next period as land is being made to rest to restore its nutrients to enable stable land productivity over time. Other dynamics could also be present. In case cointegration prevails, VECM will be used as the econometric model. The VAR/VECM approach is applied by virtue of the fact that traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation approach will be biased and susceptible to trigger off unreliable results. Recourse is made towards the Johansen and Juselius (1990) technique. The Johansen and Juselius approach is based on the following VAR specification-bivariate VAR methodology. X1,t = A0 + A1,1X1,t – 1 + A1,2X1,t – 2+ […] .+ A1,p X1,t – p + A2,1X2,t – 1 + A2,2X2,t – 2+ […] .+ A2,pX2,t – p + ßjW + e1,t […] […]..(1) X2,t = B0 + B2,1X2,t – 1 + B2,2X2,t – 2+ […] .+ B2,p X2,t – p + B1,1X1,t – 1 + B1,2X2,t – 2+ […] .+ B1,pX2,t – p + ajW + e2,t […] […] […](2) X1,t is defined as the food crops production, while X2,t pertains to harvest area under cultivation for a given crop under consideration, both constituting the endogeneous components of the VAR. The exogeneous component is captured by W which consists of the nine aforementioned weather metrics, including the cyclone dummy. The subscript j under equation (1) and (2) captures these nine distinct weather metrics. In essence, the aim of this paper is to develop an econometric-based approach to sieve out the impacts of climate metrics on food crops production in Mauritius over three decades.

Results show weather metrics do influence the production of crops in Mauritius, with cyclone being particularly harmful for tomatoes, chillies and creepers. Temperature is found to trail behind bearish impacts on tomatoes and cabbages production, but positive impacts in case of bananas, brinjals and pineapples productions, whereas humidity enhances production of beans, creepers and groundnuts. Evidence is found in favour of production being mainly governed by harvest area. Overall, the study points out the need of weather derivatives in view of hedging against crop damages, let alone initiation of adaptation strategies to undermine the adverse effects of climate change.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has been undertaken in Mauritius, let alone developing of an econometric model that properly integrates production, harvest area and weather metrics. Results show weather metrics do influence the production of crops in Mauritius, with cyclone being particularly harmful for tomatoes, chillies and creepers. Temperature is found to trail behind bearish impacts on tomatoes and cabbages production, but positive impacts in case of bananas, brinjals and pineapples productions, whereas humidity enhances production of beans, creepers and groundnuts. Evidence is found in favour of production being mainly governed by harvest area. Overall, the study points out the need of weather derivatives in view of hedging against crop damages, let alone initiation of adaptation strategies to undermine the adverse effects of climate change.

To achieve the dual goals of decarbonization and food security, this paper examines China's carbon footprint reduction in 2050 based on current mitigation strategies.

Considering publications as featured evidence, this study develops an investigation of agricultural decarbonization in China. First, the authors summarize the mitigation strategies for agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the existing literature. Second, the authors demonstrate the domestic food production target in 2050 and the projection target's projected life-cycle-based GHG emissions at the commodity level. Lastly, the authors forecast China's emission removal in the agri-food sector in 2050 concerning current mitigation strategies and commodity productions. The authors highlight the extent to which each mitigation strategy contributes to decarbonization in China.

Practices promoting sustainable development in the agri-food sector significantly contribute to GHG emission removal. The authors find mitigation strategies inhibiting future GHG emissions in the agri-food sector comprise improving nitrogen use efficiency in fertilizers, changing food consumption structure, manure management, cover crops, food waste reduction, dietary change of livestock and covered manure. A 10% improvement in nitrogen use efficiency contributes to 5.03% of GHG emission removal in the agri-food sector by 2050. Reducing food waste and food processing from 30% to 20% would inhibit 1.59% of the total GHG emissions in the agri-food sector.

This study contributes to policy discussions by accounting for agricultural direct and indirect emission components and assessing the dynamic changes in those related components. This study also extends existing research by forecasting to which extent the decarbonization effects implemented by current mitigation strategies can be achieved while meeting 2050 food security in China.

Many countries have held back from planting genetically modified (GM) food crops due to perceived negative reaction in export and domestic markets. Three lines of research have tested the reality of this fear.

In‐depth interviews were conducted in European countries with key companies and organisations in the European food sector. Supermarket intercepts were used to ascertain purchasing intent for products from countries that do or do not produce GM crops. A purchasing experiment was conducted, where cherries labelled as GM, organic or conventional were on sale in a roadside stall.

Food distribution channel members expressed concern about possibility of contamination or mix‐up between GM and non‐GM food. However, presence of GM crops in a country does not cause negative perception of food in general from that country. Approximately 30 per cent of consumers in the purchasing experiment proved willing to purchase GM cherries when there was a defined consumer benefit – either lower price or spray‐free.

Countries that have not yet planted GM food crops need to be cautious about possible negative impacts on channel member perceptions of non‐GM versions of the same crop from the same country. However, planting GM crops does not appear likely to damage the overall reputation of a food‐supplying country. GM applications in non‐food areas seem unlikely to damage perceptions of country image in relation to supply of food products from that country.

Provides useful information for those planning to plant GM food crops.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the trends in temperature and rainfall over the period 1967–2016 (50 years) for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and estimate the effect of these climatic changes on major crop production.

To set up an empirical association between crop yields and climatic variables, the study uses a fixed effect regression framework. This approach makes it possible to capture the effects of time-invariant indicators and farmers' independent adaptation strategies in reaction to year-to-year variations in precipitation and temperature.

The study observes a significant increase in average temperature by 1.9 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years and the greatest increase is noted in the summer. However, there is no significant change in rainfall. The results indicate that a one-degree Celsius increase in temperature reduces crop yields by 7–25%. The results also indicate that rainfall has a positive effect on all the crops. But, rainfall could not offset much of the adverse effects of temperature.

Future research can focus on the analysis of the climate change impact assessment for different regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and develop a place-based policy.

The recent initiative to phase out crop production makes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia entirely rely on imports. This may have little or no impact presently. However, in the future, it is possible that any global shocks on agriculture due to climate change or geopolitical instability will make the situation worse off. It will threaten both food and nutrition security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it is important to study these in the present context to prepare a road map for future food, water and nutrition security.

Economic interest groups such as seed, pesticide, feed, and food companies play an important role in supporting or preventing the production of genetically modified (GM) crops. The purpose of this paper is to examine firm managers’ attitudes toward GM technology, biotechnology R&D investment, and political lobbying activities.

Using data from surveys of 160 managers in the food, feed, chemical, and seed industries in 2013-2014, this paper employed three probit models to examine the determinants of managers’ attitudes, biotechnology R&D investment, and lobbying activities.

The results show that most Chinese agribusiness managers are concerned about GM foods and oppose its adoption. Nevertheless, one-third of the firms invest in biotechnology R&D and less than 15 percent of managers lobbied the government to change biotechnology policies. The econometric estimation results suggest that profit change expectation is the main factor affecting managers’ attitudes and biotechnology R&D investment decisions, whereas lobbying activities are significantly influenced by their attitudes and biotechnology R&D investment. In addition, managers’ attitudes toward GM foods also significantly influence firms’ decisions to invest in biotechnology R&D.

This paper has improved on previous research in two ways. First, it analyses the determinants of agribusiness firm managers’ attitudes toward GM technology, biotechnology R&D investment, and lobbying activities. Second, the methodology involves an analysis of agribusiness firm survey data in the food, feed, chemical, and seed industries, which is the first time to use such data to research on economic interest group in agricultural biotechnology field.