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Cultures responded to the COVID-19 pandemic differently. We investigated cultural differences in mental health during the pandemic. We found regional differences in people's reports of anxiety in China over two years from 2020 to 2021 (N = 1186). People in areas with a history of rice farming reported more anxiety than people in wheat-farming areas. Next, we explored more proximal mechanisms that could help link the distal, historical factor of rice farming to people's modern experience of anxiety. Rice areas scored higher on collectivism and tight social norms than wheat areas, and collectivism, rather than norm tightness, mediated the rice-anxiety relationship. These findings advance our understanding of the distal sources of cultural differences, the proximal mechanisms, and mental health problems during the pandemics.
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Aim: Our institute provided the required monthly insulin free to patients with type 1 diabetes, where either patients or parents became unemployed and/or economically weaker during the pandemic. Method(s): All 296 patients with type 1 diabetes were given questionnaires to assess their or their family's economic status during Covid-19. 33 patients fell below poverty line and had a Priority Household Card (with 35kgs of free rice every month) and ration cards enrolled for monthly free insulin scheme. The patients were given monthly requirements of insulin based on existing regimens. Their weight, HbA1c and episodes of ketoacidosis were measured at 3-and 6-months following initiation of the scheme. Additional financial and material support were organized from NGO's and philanthropic individuals. Measurable impact of this project was ascertained through glycaemic control through HbA1C levels prior and after, overall wellbeing and prevention of acute complications like ketoacidosis. Result(s): 33 patients enrolled for the study, 9 were less than 15 years of age, 19 between 15 and 30 years and 5 above 30 years of age. HbA1c levels fell cumulative by 0.8% by 3 months and 1.2% by six months. Weight increased by 1 kg by 3 months and 1.5 kg by six months. Few episodes of ketoacidosis were reported during six months primarily due to engagement issues issue rather than availability of insulin. Conclusion(s): There was a dramatic impact on overall wellbeing of these patients with type 1 diabetes with significant improvement on glycaemic control and on emotional by reducing the financial burden of procuring monthly doses of insulin.
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Previous research has shown that there are vast cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward COVID-19 travel restrictions. Yet, pinpointing the specific role of any single factor in explaining cross-cultural variability is difficult when comparing cultural communities that differ along myriad dimensions. Taking a 'just minimal difference' approach that removes the effects of extraneous variables, the present research focuses on how islandness can account for variability in travel intentions during the pandemic. Combining retrospective self-report assessment with a dynamic behavioural choice regarding travel intention during COVID-19, the present research examined travel attitudes and behaviours in Chinese Xiamen islanders and mainlanders that share the same geographic environment, language, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, but vary in their implicit individualism. Results across two studies revealed that Chinese Xiamen islanders were less supportive of travel and mobility restrictions than mainlanders who all lived near the coast. Additionally, it was found that implicit individualism mediated the link between islandness and travel attitudes. Together, this paper not only presents the first empirical evidence for the role of geographic environment in the emergence of attitudes toward restrictive travel limitations, but potentially informs tourism management and revival in the era of COVID-19.
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The US military, intelligence, and diplomatic communities have overlooked a key vulnerability in their assessment of a potential military conflict between China and Taiwan- Taiwan's growing reliance on agricultural imports and its food stocks (except for rice) that could endure trade disruptions for only six months. This article assesses Taiwan's agricultural sector and its ability to feed the country's population if food imports and production are disrupted;identifies the food products that should be prioritized in resupply operations, based on Taiwan's nutritional needs and domestic food production;and outlines the required logistical assets. These findings underscore the urgency for US military planners to develop long-term logistical solutions for this complex strategic issue.
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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in severe income losses, but little is known about its impacts on diets and nutritional adequacy, or the effectiveness of social protection interventions in mitigating dietary and nutritional impacts. We first assess the likely impacts of COVID-19 shocks in Bangladesh and Myanmar on poverty and food and nutrient consumption gaps. We then analyze the estimated mitigating effects of five hypothetical social protection interventions of a typical monetary value: (1) cash transfers;(2) in-kind transfers of common rice;(3) in-kind transfers of fortified rice enriched with multiple essential micronutrients;(4) vouchers for a diversified basket of rice and non-staple foods;and (5) food vouchers with fortified rice instead of common rice. The simulation results suggest modest effectiveness of the cash transfers for mitigating poverty increases and little effectiveness of all five transfers for preventing increasing food and nutrient consumption gaps among the poorest 40%. Rice fortification is, however, effective at closing key micronutrient consumption gaps and could be a suitable policy instrument for averting 'hidden hunger' during economic crises.
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Dysregulated or weak immunity is caused by ageing, chemo-radiotherapy, COVID-19, infections, steroids, pollutants and toxins. Bioactive foods are required for boosting immunity. In the present study, nine rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties were selected from the repository of 23,250 Indian germplasm accessions. The immunomodulatory effects of these rice varieties were assessed in vitro and in vivo. Layacha-rice-methanolic-extract (Larimex) significantly enhanced innate (>20%) and adaptive (>10%) immune responses evinced from higher bacterial phagocytosis by macrophages, increased mitogen-induced T-cell proliferation (11%) and scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) (70–80%). Larimex activated transcription factor Nrf2 and its downstream genes Nqo1, Ho1 and Txnrd1 in immune cells. Larimex significantly improved immune responses (>20%) only in cells from wild type but not Nrf2 knock-out mice indicating its causal role in boosting immunity. Untargeted metabolomics of Layacha rice showed preponderance of metabolic pathways and bioactive compounds, which activate Nrf2 in mammalian cells. Layacha rice can be a suitable food for boosting immunity.
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The price of rice at the retail level affects consumer welfare and influences inflation. The research objective was to study rice retail trader pricing behavior in traditional markets. This study employed an econometric model consisting of six equations of price spread between the retail market level and wholesale level of different rice qualities and grades. To overcome endogeneity problems due to the use of several equations that could cause potential bias, the simultaneous method with the 3SLS approach was deemed appropriate to use to obtain consistent and efficient coefficient estimates. The results show that, by examining the behavior of price spreads in the model, it can be deduced that rice retailers in the traditional market applied a price stabilization strategy. A lower price spread responded to an increase in price at the wholesale level. Rice retailers in traditional markets also implemented a price-averaging strategy. The results of this study have important policy implications for reducing food price volatility and its impact on inflation. That is, a price policy aimed at price stabilization at the retail level, as in this study, will be more effective if the price stabilization is focused on the wholesale level. However, if the pricing policy continues to be applied at the retail level, it must consider the relationships between different rice qualities and prices. This study also highlights the need for more intensive research on pricing behavior at the wholesale level.
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This paper presents the evaluation results of the yield target setting precision of the revised MOET App (v.2.0), following the inclusion of the correction factors generated from rice biomass correlations between MOET and nutrient omission plot setups obtained from 2017 to 2018. The project started with trainings on MOET kit and MOET App use for the seed production personnel across PhilRice stations in Nueva Ecija, Negros, Bukidnon and Agusan in 2018 DS. Included in the trainings were the establishment of MOET kit tests and generation of variety- and site-specific recommendations via the MOET App for several nationally or regionally recommended varieties (NSIC Rc 122, 160, 216, 218, 222, 238, 286, 300, 358, 402, 436, 440, 442, 480, PSB Rc18 and PSB Rc82) that each PhilRice station intended to produce in the succeeding 4 cropping periods from 2019 to 2020. Relative yield advantages and economic benefits from using the MOET App fertilizer recommendations over PhilRice' current fertilizer management in seed production per station were monitored every cropping while the precision evaluation of yield target setting was done after the last cropping of 2020 WS. In 2019, relative yield advantages averaged 0.43t ha-1 in DS and 0.25t ha-1 in WS. In 2020 DS, an average relative yield advantage of 0.63t ha-1 was obtained across stations and 0.93t ha-1 in 2020 WS in Nueva Ecija only due to travel restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic benefits of using the MOET App showed an average of 0.50t ha-1 and 0.65t ha-1 yield increase over the seed production units' fertilizer management in DS and WS, respectively. While savings in fertilizer cost were better realized during the WS at an average of Php 4,126.34 ha-1 season-1 across stations. Results of the precision evaluation of the yield target showed marked improvements with a 95.24% probability of achieving 17% higher grain yields than the target set by MOET App v.2.0. However, the overall normalized Root Mean Square Error (nRMSE) of 38.14% exceeded the range for a fairly acceptable fit with the model due to large gaps between target and actual yields obtained from DS field trials.
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The agricultural sector must receive serious attention today since it faces many challenges such as the small size of land ownership and the low interest of the younger generation for doing this business. Various efforts have been made, including the agricultural technology park program and other programs for increasing production and farmer welfare. All those agricultural programs need to be supported by technology and model to get properly development. This study aims to increase the productivity and income of farmers in the agricultural development area. The research activities include potentials and problems of farm identification by a Forum Group Discussion and research implementation using a factorial randomized completely block design with four new high yield varieties and one existing variety. The results showed that farmers were very enthusiastic and responsive to the use of new high yield varieties which combined with Jajar Legowo Super technology. The highest yields in the first and second planting season were consistently reached by Inpari 30 variety. It was carried out both in Batui and South Batui District and there was an increase in production around 1.7-2 t/ha. Crop yields and farmers' incomes have increased. The guidance and assistance for farmer groups has not shown best results, however, collaboration between the breeder group and the off taker (PT Pertani) has been formed, while the development of premium rice has not been optimally implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The main food consumption of farming families is an important concern during the pandemic. Farmers in West Nusa Tenggara (WNT) survive with the availability of rice to support household health and food security during the pandemic. In addition to its nutritional content, rice also contains phenolic compounds and has antioxidant activity. This study aims are to measure the frequency of rice consumption, food variety, varieties of rice consumed daily during the pandemic in WNT, as well as the antioxidant properties of several rice varieties grown in WNT. This study was conducted from September 2020 to June 2021 in East Lombok, Sumbawa and Bima Regencies, WNT Province, Indonesia using a survey approach. The data collection techniques were observation, Focus Group Discussion, recording, interviews with 74 respondents with a semi-structured questionnaire and study literature related to the nutritional content and bioactive compound of the rice. Quantitative data was tabulated to determine the frequency and average then descriptively analyzed, while qualitative data was thematically analysed. The most consumed rice varieties are seen from the production data of seed breeders in the WNT region, the phenolic content was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu, antioxidant activity was examined using DPPH assay. The result showed that the highest portion of food consumed by farmer households in WNT is rice. The most variety of rice produced by breeders is the Inpari 32 variety. There are about 97% of farmers consume rice for 3 times a day, while 3% of the remaining consume 2 times a day of rice. Food variety includes 7.9% vegetable-rice and 92.1% rice-vegetables-meat protein. The results of the analysis of antioxidant properties and phenolic content in rice is depending on the variety. The antioxidant properties of the Jeliteng, Baroma, Pamelen, Nutrizinc and Inpari 32 rice varieties were 44.85+or-0.51%, 9.87+or-1.55%, 9.96+or-1.22%, 9.75+or-1.09%, and 14.305+or-1.24%, respectively, while the phenolic contents were 9.76+or-0.09, 4.23+or-0.03, 4.48+or-0.02, 4.64+or- 0.07, 4.58+or-0.42 mg GAE/g dryrice extract, respectively. The results of this study indicate that rice has been used as one of antioxidants source for farming families during the pandemic.
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Interdependent cultures around the world have generally controlled COVID-19 better. We tested this pattern in China based on the rice theory, which argues that historically rice-farming regions of China are more interdependent than wheat-farming areas. Unlike earlier findings, rice-farming areas suffered more COVID-19 cases in the early days of the outbreak. We suspected this happened because the outbreak fell on Chinese New Year, and people in rice areas felt more pressure to visit family and friends. We found historical evidence that people in rice areas visit more family and friends for Chinese New Year than people in wheat areas. In 2020, rice areas also saw more New Year travel. Regional differences in social visits were correlated with COVID-19 spread. These results reveal an exception to the general idea that interdependent culture helps cultures contain COVID-19. When relational duties conflict with public health, interdependence can lead to more spread of disease.
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PurposeThis paper aims to formulate a hedonic pricing model for Japanese rice wine, sake, via hierarchical Bayesian modeling estimated using an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. Using the estimated model, the authors examine how producing regions, rice breeds and taste characteristics affect sake prices.Design/methodology/approachThe datasets in the estimation consist of cross-sectional observations of 403 sake brands, which include sake prices, taste indicators, premium categories, rice breeds and regional dummy variables. Data were retrieved from Rakuten, Japan's largest online shopping site. The authors used the Bayesian estimation of the hedonic pricing model and used an ancillarity–sufficiency interweaving strategy to improve the sampling efficiency of MCMC.FindingsThe estimation results indicate that Japanese consumers value sweeter sake more, and the price of sake reflects the cost of rice preprocessing only for the most-expensive category of sake. No distinctive differences were identified among rice breeds or producing regions in the hedonic pricing model.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to estimate a hedonic pricing model of sake, despite the rich literature on alcoholic beverages. The findings may contribute new insights into consumer preference and proper pricing for sake breweries and distributors venturing into the e-commerce market.
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One constraint of Thai soybean production is the volume of seeds used for cultivation in the dry season or after the rice season. PhuPha Man district, KhonKaenprovince, in Northeast Thailand, faces the same problem and can be solved by producing seeds during the rainy season for use in the dry season. The collaborative brainstorming to participatory action development employed in this community-based soybean production project involves four steps: (1) needs assessment, (2) planning, (3) implementation, and (4) evaluation. From 2019-2020, a total of 40 farmers jointly participated in this project: 20 from the Non-Korm Sub-district and 20 from the Sawab Sub-district. They agreed to implement three missions: (1) Farmer group management. A Community-based Soybean Seed Production Center (CSSPC) was established in each area. Each CSSPC was responsible for determining the structure and role of management, including the implementation of disciplines. (2) Seed production management. During its implementation, a shortage of rainfall and drought occurred from September to October 2019, causing soybean production to decline. Moreover, product harvesting and project evaluation took place at the site during the COVID-19 pandemic from January to May 2020, influencing the ability of farmers and facilitators to work together on group activities which required delicate management of the monitoring, control, production, exchange, and learning to solve problems. (3) Seed purchasing and distribution management. Rainfall shortage and drought influenced the ability of the farmers to produce the required soybean seeds. Consequently, the CSSPC did not purchase the seeds and manage their distribution.Copyright © 2023, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.
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In recent years, the rice cake market has grown considerably in terms of research and development of products suitable for consumer needs and beneficial to health at the same time. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of consumers consuming antioxidant-rich foods and immunity-boosting foods to improve health and promote healthy eating habits has increased. Pistachio rice cakes have been tested and found to be high in polyphenols, which have good antioxidant activity and strengthen the immune system. Therefore, research was conducted on pistachio rice cakes to develop safe, health functional, and sustainable food. In order to maximize the sales potential of pistachio rice cakes, a survey was conducted among Korean adults to investigate perception of pistachio, pistachio rice cake purchasing behavior, and popularization plans. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to examine the correlation between pistachio perception, pistachio rice cake purchasing behavior, and pistachio rice cake popularization measures, and they were found to have a close relationship. In addition, as a result of multiple regression analysis, perception and purchasing behavior of pistachio rice cake products were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on rice cake technology development, development of brand specializing in rice cakes, and cultivation of traditional rice cake experts. This study suggests that continuous research and development of food safety and sustainability of rice cakes are required, and it is expected to be utilized as basic data to form a research basis that can be a strategy for increasing sales in the rice cake industry.
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The importance of food supply throughout the world has once again shown its significance in the COVID-19 pandemic period. A continuous food supply is possible with correct agricultural programming. An effective agricultural product programming can only be possible by obtaining precise agricultural data. However, it is very difficult to gather accurate agricultural production statistics from all over the world and confirm their accuracy. In this study, the compatibility of the production statistics of six important agricultural products (wheat, rice, potato, onion, banana, apple) which had been collected from local sources, and had published as opensource by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with Benford's law was examined for the first time. Data for the last two decades are used to ignore the impact of annual fluctuations. The compatibility of theoretically expected and observed data was tested by Chi-square (X2) and Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) tests. Although inconsistencies were found in some data by examining the numbers in the first, second, and first two digits, in general, the MAD test results gave a mostly concordant result.
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PurposeThe study aims to evaluate the long- vs short-run relationships between crops' production (output) and crops' significant inputs such as land use, agricultural water use (AWU) and gross irrigated area in India during the period 1981–2018.Design/methodology/approachThe study applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to estimate the co-integration among the variables. The study uses the error correction model (ECM), which integrates the short-run dynamics with the long-run equilibrium.FindingsThe ARDL bounds test of co-integration confirms the strong evidence of the long-run relationship among the variables. Empirical results show the positive and significant relationship of crops' production with land use and gross irrigated area. The statistically significant error correction term (ECT) validates the speed of adjustment of the empirical models in the long-run.Research limitations/implicationsThe study suggests that the decision-makers must understand potential trade-offs between human needs and environmental impacts to ensure food for the growing population in India.Originality/valueFor a clear insight into the impact of climate change on crops' production, the current study incorporates the climate variables such as annual rainfall, maximum temperature and minimum temperature. Further, the study considered agro-chemicals, i.e. fertilizers and pesticides, concerning their negative impacts on increased agricultural production and the environment.
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The Covid-19 outbreak has negatively affected the agri-food system especially in developing countries where most people rely on agriculture. Using primary data, we study the role of staple crop production as a coping strategy during the Covid-19 outbreak. Using a linear probability model, this article assesses the effect of income and food security deterioration perceived as a consequence of Covid-19 on rice investment propensity among 1320 women rice producers in Casamance, Senegal. Our results show that food security deterioration and especially income reduction due to Covid-19 are significantly and positively related to rice investment propensity. The presence of food retailers and the type of household livelihood, farm or nonfarm, dramatically drive the Covid-19 perception effects on rice investment propensity. While women small producers in villages with food retailers slightly increase their propensity to invest in rice, in remote villages lacking food retailers rice production represents an effective coping strategy for those women living in households that depend to a large extent on the market, i.e. those relying on nonfarm income. These results are supported by the strong correlation between limited physical access to the market, due to movement restrictions, and rice investment propensity, especially among households relying on nonfarm income.
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Résumé. La pandémie de la COVID-19 et la crise sanitaire et sociale qui en a découlé ont encouragé la conduite d'entretiens semi-directifs par téléphone ou par visioconférence. À partir de trois enquêtes réalisées par des jeunes femmes portant sur l'intime et ayant recours aux entretiens biographiques, cette note méthodologique examine les façons dont l'entretien à distance transforme la nature des matériaux collectés et recompose ce taisant le mode de production de connaissances sociologiques. Elle montre que le distanciel renouvelle les profils sociaux accessibles en ouvrant la voie à des configurations inédites. Elle donne également à voir les atouts de ce dispositif pour accéder à l'intériorité du sujet et souligne son potentiel dans les cas où des positions asymétrlques entre enquêteur/rice et enquêté·e dans les rapports de pouvolr (en particulier de genre) sont susceptibles d'entraver la relation d'enquête, risquant dès lors d'appauvrir les connaissances produites.Alternate :The COVID-19 pandemic and the health and social crisis it caused led researchers to conduct semi-directive interviews either by telephone or videoconferencing. On the basis of three surveys on intimate personal matters conducted by young women and requiring life history interviews, this methodological assessment examines the ways in which remote interviewing of these kinds changes the nature of the material collected and in so doing rearranges the sociological knowledge production mode. It shows how remote interviewing renews accessible social profiles by opening a path to previously unknown configurations. It also shows the advantages of this arrangement for accessing the subject's inner thoughts, feelings, and processes, and highlights its potential for cases where asymmetrical interviewer/respondent power positions (particularly gender positions) are likely to hinder interviewer-respondent rapport, risking an impoverishment of the knowledge produced.Alternate :Die COVID-19-Pandemie und die damit entstandene Sanitäts- und Sozialkrise haben die Leitfadengespräche über Telefon oder Videokonferenz gefördert. Ausgehend von drei von jungen Frauen durchgeführten Untersuchungen zur Intimsphäre anhand von biographischen Gesprächen prüft diese methodologische Notiz, wie das Ferngespräch die Art der gesammelten Materialen verändert und dabei den Produktionsmodus von soziologischen Kenntnissen neugestaltet. Sie zeigt, dass das Distanzgespräch die erreichbaren Sozialprofile erneuert, indem der Weg zu bisher nicht vorhandenen Konfigurationen geöffnet wird. Sie zeigt außerdem alle Pluspunkte dieser Vorgangsweise zur Erreichung der Interiorität des Subjekts und unterstreicht ihr Potential in den Fällen, in denen die asymmetrischen Positionen zwischen Befrager und Befragten innerhalb der Machtbeziehungen (besonders Gender) möglicherweise die Befragungsbeziehung einschränken und somit die produzierten Kenntnisse verringern könnten.Alternate :La pandemia de COVID-19 y la crisis sanitaria y social que ha derivado de ella han llevado a la realización de entrevistas semi-directivas por teléfono o por cia. A partir de encuestas que llevaron très mujeres jóvenes acerca de lo íntimo y que se basaban en entrevistas biográficas, nuestra nota metodológica observa de qué manera la entrevista a distancia transforma la naturaleza del material colectado y por lo tanto reorganiza el modo de producción de conocimientos sociológicos. Muestra que la comunicación a distancia renueva los perfiles sociales accesibles al posibilitar configuraciones inéditas. También revela las ventajas del dispositivo para acceder a la interioridad del sujeto y subraya su potencial en los casos en los que posiciones asimétricas entre investigador a y encuestado a en las relaciones de poder (en particular de género) podrían frenar la relación de investigación y así empobrecer los saberes producidos.
ABSTRACT
In modern society, interest in health is increasing, and more consumers are taking care of their health due to COVID-19. As a result, immunity enhancement and antioxidant foods help to promote health, and the intake rate is increasing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate quality characteristics and antioxidant activity by adding 0%, 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% pistachios to rice cake, a traditional Korean food. The moisture content and pH decreased as the amount of pistachio added and the chromaticity L and a values tended to decrease, but the b values increased. It was confirmed that the polyphenol, ABTS a DPPH significantly increased as the amount of pistachio added increased. As a result of confirming the functionality and overall preference, it is suggested that the 9% content is the best, and this experiment is expected to improve the quality of rice cake and improve the nutritional balance, so that it can become an antioxidant functional food. As far as we know, it is the first study to prove that pistachios and rice cakes are combined, suggesting that rice cakes with added pistachios, a physiologically active substance, are healthful foods © 2022, Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture.All Rights Reserved.