ABSTRACT
Agriculture remains a major engine of growth among the majority of developing and underdeveloped countries throughout the globe. But the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has severely affected all sectors of agribusiness industries. In many parts of the world agriculture production became almost half due to the impact of this pandemic. But in two Himalayan regions of India, Darjeeling and Sikkim, mixed effects were observed during the pandemic period. Although a large number of marginal farmers were severely affected during the lockdown and even in the unlock phases, while a significant number of farmers also gained nominal to a large amount of profit;chiefly because of reliability on complete organic farming including producing organic manure and bio-pesticides by the farmers themselves, lack of competition with imported agricultural commodities into the local market due to the inter-state travel ban, marketization of the agricultural products to the consumers through Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs), NGOs and Sikkim State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation ltd. (SIMFED) and above all creation of the Farmers' Helpline at district levels by the local government bodies to solve the problems of the farmers even in the remotest regions.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on food insecurity in the United States, using data from the Household Pulse Survey. Our primary research design exploits variation in vaccine eligibility across states over time as an instrumental variable to address the endogeneity of vaccination decision. We find that vaccination had a substantial impact on food hardship by reducing the likelihood of food insecurity by 24%, with even stronger effects among minority and financially disadvantaged populations. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and the use of regression discontinuity as an alternative identification strategy. We also show that vaccine eligibility had a positive spillover impact on food assistance programs, specifically by reducing participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which suggests that vaccination policy can be effective in alleviating the fiscal burden of the pandemic on the government. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that vaccinated individuals exhibit increased financial optimism, as measured by expectations about future loss of employment and income as well as ability to make mortgage and debt payments. Based on the point estimates, the implied elasticity of food insecurity with respect to financial optimism is between -0.57 and -0.86. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 vaccination program has implications that extend beyond the direct health benefits. Taken together, our results underscore the critical role of medical innovations and health interventions in improving economic optimism and food security, especially among vulnerable populations, during public health crises.
ABSTRACT
Laimburg Research Centre is the research centre for agriculture and food quality in South Tyrol. Agriculture in the Alpine region is suffering the intense pressure of its less favourable socio-economic and topographical conditions, together with the effects of climate change. The Laimburg Research Centre carries out research projects to provide in-depth knowledge about winegrowing, from growing techniques through to plant protection systems. The aim is to provide a solid knowledge base and practical answers for farmers and growers to be able to better face the challenges of the future.
ABSTRACT
In the realm of pesticide-resistance research, transdisciplinary collaboration has been evolving for over a decade. What began as an initiative to identify the barriers producers face to effective management of pesticide resistance has evolved into an effort to assist them in overcoming such hurdles. The nature of the problem (both wicked and a common pool resource) along with the types of barriers points to the potential of collaborative, polycentric governance approaches focused on community management. The state of the field is reviewed, comparisons to COVID-19 are drawn, and a call-to-action presented.
ABSTRACT
The idea of 'food and drug homology' plays a very important role in Chinese history. Especially, in the COVID-19 epidemic situation, 'food and drug homology' products improved health as medicated diet, thus promoting traditional Chinese drugs industry becomingmoreinternational. However, the quality of food and drug homology products were uneven, intermingled quality products and fake ones happen occasionally. In recent years, traceability technology for food and drug homologous products has gradually become a research hotspot due to the complex and diverse means of adulteration of food and drug homologous products. The aim of the development of origin traceability technology is to protect the 'genuineness' and 'distinctiveness' of food and drug homologous products. At the same time, it protects the rights and interests of consumersand protects the authenticity of food and drug homologous products and the healthy development of the food and drug homologous industry. Based on the basic data of journals and master's and doctoral dissertations collected from CNKI, Web of Sciences and Pud Med till June 2021, this paper analyzed the development trend of traceability technology in the application of global food and drug homologous products. The source, classification, origin traceability technology and application progress in food and drug homologous products were summarized in order to provide a theoretical basis for future research on origin traceability technology for food and drug homologous products.
ABSTRACT
This article examines the increase in prices of farm inputs (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers) in 2021 and the reasons for the increase, including the rise in energy costs, the disruption caused by outbreaks of new variants of COVID-19, and the increase in international freight prices. It is concluded that there are definitely external factors, beyond local control, that are drastically affecting the prices of farm inputs, a situation that directly harms the Colombian agri-food market by significantly increasing production costs due to the high dependence on imported products and raw materials necessary in the national agrochemical and fertilizer industry. There is a need to implement technologies and cultivation practices that lead to the reduction and/or rationalization in the use of inputs, seeking to reduce production costs and increase yields.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted agriculture in India in many ways, yet no nationally representative survey has been conducted to quantify these impacts. The three objectives of this study were to evaluate how the pandemic has influenced: (1) cropping patterns and input use, (2) farmers' willingness to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and (3) farmers' COVID-19 symptoms. Phone surveys were conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 with farmers who had previously participated in a nationally representative survey. Values are reported as weighted percent (95% confidence interval). A total of 3,637 farmers completed the survey;59% (56-61%) were small/marginal farmers;72% (69-74%) were male;and 52% (49-55%) had a below poverty line ration card. A majority of farmers (84% [82-86%]) reported cultivating the same crops in 2019 and 2020. Farmers who reported a change in their cropping patterns were more likely to be cultivating vegetables (p = 0.001) and soybean (p<0.001) and less likely to be cultivating rice (p<0.001). Concerning inputs, 66% (63-68%) of farmers reported no change in fertilizers;66% (64-69%) reported no change in pesticides;and 59% (56-62%) reported no change in labor. More than half of farmers (62% [59-65%]) were interested in trying sustainable farming, primarily because of government schemes or because their peers were practicing it. About one-fifth (18% [15-21%]) of farmers reported COVID-19 symptoms in the past month (cough, fever, or shortness of breath) and among those with symptoms, 37% (28-47%) reported it affected their ability to work. In conclusion, COVID-19 infections had started to impact farmers' productivity even during the first wave in India. Most farmers continued to grow the same crops with no change in input use. However, many expressed an interest in learning more about practicing sustainable farming. Findings will inform future directions for resilient agri-food systems.
ABSTRACT
These proceedings contain 59 articles focusing the discussion on the roles of the COVID-19 vaccine against climate change, as well as formulating comprehensive and efficient strategies on how to increase the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine against climate change. Topics also revolve around areas such as: impact of depletion or enhancement of air, water, soil, and vegetation resource capabilities;strategy for environmental disaster reduction research;pollution and contamination of land surface and atmosphere;climate model and uneven precipitation distribution;the implication of climate adaptation and mitigation research;carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emission, recycle and reuse energy research;policy and legal aspect of climate change;infrastructures risks and planning on climate adaptation;marine ecosystem affected by climate change;and direct and indirect risks to wellbeing.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agro-inputs distribution and sales along the agricultural supply chain (ASC) in gun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 96 agro-dealers from the Abeokuta and Ilaro ADP zones of Ogun State. Data were collected and analysed using a computer assisted personalized interviewing (CAPI) system. Findings showed that 89% of the respondents sold agro-inputs in the shops, 26% in the rural villages, and 19.8% at market stands. Due to the lockdown, 68.8% closed down shops for 35-39 days, 92.7% found it difficult to move agroinputs from the stores to the villages, and 85.4% incurred high costs in transporting agroinputs from urban to the rural areas. Likewise, 61.5% reported low patronage of fewer than 10 customers per week while the average weekly sales dropped from 60,000 to 15,600 for maize seeds, 78,000 to 27,000 for herbicides, and 336,000 to 120,000 for fertilizers. The lockdown was significantly affected patronage (beta = 0.64) and sales (beta = 0.72). The COVID19 pandemic affected patronage and sales of agro-inputs in Ogun State.
ABSTRACT
The unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis calls for a more effective agroecological transition in the context of ongoing worldwide rural and urban development policies. To move onwards, a drastic reorientation of food production, distribution and consumption systems seems unavoidable. At first sight, this drive will require to set in motion five strategies: progressive abolition of pesticide use, enrichment of the ecological matrix, revitalization of small farm agriculture, diffusion of alternative animal production systems, and promotion of urban agriculture. In this article, the researchers offer a brief review of the potential of these agroecological initiatives. The researchers acknowledge that the new evidence of increasingly erratic climate events, along with the "new emerging pandemics" syndrome, is challenging the hegemony of the globalized agribusiness model. On the other hand, in dealing with such grave challenges facing humanity in the upcoming decades, there is an urgent need to promote coordinated actions leading to territorially-based agroecological systems.
ABSTRACT
Globally, SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is considered as pandemic viral infection by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the immunological response aspect, a very limited understanding has been progressed, mainly innate and adaptive immunity responses toward the virus. SARS-COV-2 causes severe respiratory disease and sometimes ended with the death. The body of the patients has ability to develop the immunity to cure the patient and more importantly both humoral and cellular immunity have studied against SARS-COV-2. There are different immune responses against the viral infection as it has seen in other previous diseases such as SARS-COV and MESR. On the base on immune response detected in recovered patients, scientists have started to develop the vaccines. Moreover, there are different strategies that used by researchers and pharmacological companies to develop vaccines including attenuated or killed viruses, RNA of a spike protein, and vector expressing a particular protein of the virus. The common antibodies have detected to work against SARS-COV-2 in sera of infected or recovered patients are immunoglobin G (IgG) and immunoglobin M (IgM). The sera of patients recovered from COVID-19, after tittering of immunoglobulins (IgG titer) can be used for either treatment of disease or prophylaxis of infection by SARS-COV-2. This study gives an update on the current immunological approaches and vaccination strategies for the emerging SARS-COV-2, and discusses the challenges and hurdles to overcome for developing efficacious vaccines against this dangerous pathogen.