Role of Artificial Intelligence in Advancing Sustainable Development Goals in the Agriculture Sector

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the algorithms designed to make decisions, often using big real-time data to perform activities that at times go beyond human capabilities. Given the increasing gap in agricultural demand and supply worldwide, further widened by the COVID-19 pandemic (The pandemic has derailed the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) further off the track. The SDG financing gap per annum widened from USD 2.5 trillion to around USD 4.2 trillion), it necessitates innovative and cost-effective approaches to agriculture. AI has begun producing innovative technological solutions and data-driven insights to farming which gives confidence that it can be used to mitigate challenges around sustainable agricultural practices and facilitate getting SDGs back on track. In agriculture, AI has demonstrated immense potential in achieving enhanced productivity and improving the existing supply chains, delivery systems and market value/better pricing in both developed and developing countries for better utilisation of the produce. Several innovative uses of AI in agriculture have emerged worldwide, promising to advance farm productivity while improving sustainability and livelihoods at the same time. However, many of these experiments/pilots exist in silos. Due to this fragmented approach, a comprehensive understanding of how successful the use of AI has been in agriculture and what shortcomings or challenges were faced in some of these technological implementations has not been well evaluated. This chapter, therefore, assesses the pressing reasons to use innovative and cost-effective digital interventions like AI for SDGs in the agriculture sector. The paper then identifies the challenges in designing a successful AI programme and explores the potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships in this context. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Food Safety: A Critical Review Based on SDG 2.

This paper aims to analyze the issue of food security, articulating it with the relevance of achieving SDG 2, as one of the fundamental objectives set by the United Nations Organization for Sustainable Development (2015). To achieve this end, the research focuses on four fundamental aspects: 1. The relevance of food security in the global context and the need for timely access to food for individuals, without neglecting the asymmetric structural contexts on the planet, such as hunger and poverty, which limit the conditions for development (FAO, 2009). 2. The relevance of SDG 2 for food security, the production of goods and food effectively, preventing actions that threaten life on the planet (Cóndor et. al, 2022). 3. The presence of people who suffer from hunger in the Latin American and Caribbean region, which has been on the rise since the 2010s and which limits the possibilities of access to sustainability and better living conditions (ECLAC, 2019), a fact that has been intensified with the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic (FAO, 2021). 4. The COVID-19 pandemic that has given rise to new vulnerabilities and conditions for access to food, resulting, among other things, in the stunted growth of infants under five years of age. The method used is documentary review. It concludes on the relevance of food security for the achievement of sustainable development, for the reduction of poverty and structural asymmetric conditions, without failing to recognize the distance that exists to reach the fulfillment of these objectives, especially in convulsive scenarios such as those of the global South. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] El artículo tiene por objetivo analizar el tema de la seguridad alimentaria, articulándolo con la pertinencia de alcanzar el ODS 2, como uno de los objetivos fundamentales planteados por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para el desarrollo sostenible (2015). Para lograr tal fin, la investigación se centra en cuatro aspectos fundamentales: 1. La relevancia de la seguridad alimentaria en el contexto global y la necesidad del oportuno acceso a la alimentación de los individuos, sin dejar de lado los contextos asimétricos estructurales en el planeta, como el hambre y la pobreza, que limitan las condiciones para el desarrollo (FAO, 2009). 2. La pertinencia del ODS 2 para la seguridad alimentaria, la producción de bienes y alimentos de forma efectiva, evitando acciones que atenten contra la vida en el planeta (Cóndor et. al, 2022). 3. La presencia de personas que padecen hambre en la región latinoamericana y caribeña, que viene en ascenso desde la década del 2010 y que limita las posibilidades de acceso a la sostenibilidad y mejores condiciones de vida (CEPAL, 2019), hecho que se ha intensificado con la presencia de la pandemia COVID-19 (FAO, 2021). 4. La pandemia COVID-19 que ha dado lugar a nuevas vulnerabilidades y condicionamientos para el acceso a la alimentación, resultando, entre otras cosas, en el retraso de crecimiento de infantes menores de cinco años. El método utilizado es la revisión documental. Se concluye en la relevancia de la seguridad alimentaria para el logro del desarrollo sostenible, para la disminución de la pobreza y de condiciones asimétricas estructurales, sin dejar de reconocer la distancia que existe para llegar al cumplimiento de estos objetivos, especialmente en escenarios convulsos como los del Sur global. (Spanish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Revista de Filosofía is the property of Revista de Filosofia-Universidad del Zulia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Creating Space for Student Action and Reflection on Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger

The aim of this paper is to provide insight to delivering global sustainability education in online asynchronous environments. High impact educational practices such as service-learning, community-based learning and global learning often require face-to-face interaction and off-campus travel. Few high impact practices are offered in an asynchronous online environment, highlighting a need in sustainability education that was made particularly urgent by the covid-19 pandemic. To address this need, an online asynchronous course was developed focused on Zero Hunger. Students explore different aspects of food security in domestic and international settings through asynchronous modules before being tasked in the creation of an individual action plan to address the issue of food security in a designated target audience. Students work independently on the action plans culminating their learning with an impact report presentation to the class community. The authenticity of the learning experience is increased by harnessing the power of student autonomy and student voice in crafting the application of course content knowledge. Intentional reflection on all aspects of the action project, including project impact, is a key aspect of enduring student learning. Course participants have the opportunity for cultural learning and intercultural communication due to a multinational cohort of students in each class. Well-designed high impact educational practices can play an important role in sustainability education in online, on-demand environments. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

COVID-19 and Ghana's agri-food system: an assessment of resilience

Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) intertwined with a food security resilience framework was used to understand Ghana's agricultural food system resilience to COVID-19 from a production perspective using a qualitative approach. Agricultural production remained fairly resilient but plagued with labor mobility challenges that delayed production. Specific results showed self-sufficiency in the production of roots and tubers, deficiency in the production of cereals and poultry. Opportunities do exist in rice production. Fall Army Worm invasion threatened cereal production. The government is encouraged to increase funding investment through public-private partnerships to build warehouses and increase production in meeting domestic supply needs. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Reversing Years for Global Food Security: A Review of the Food Security Situation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

All around the world, inequalities persist in the complex web of social, economic, and ecological factors that mediate food security outcomes at different human and institutional scales. There have been rapid and continuous improvements in agricultural productivity and better food security in many regions of the world during the past 50 years due to an expansion in crop area, irrigation, and supportive policy and institutional initiatives. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is inverted. Statistics show that food insecurity has risen since 2015 in Sub-Saharan African countries, and the situation has worsened owing to the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing implications of the COVID-19 threat. This review looks into multidimensional challenges to achieving the SDG2 goal of "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture" in Sub-Saharan Africa and the prosper policy recommendations for action. Findings indicate that weak economic growth, gender inequality, high inflation, low crop productivity, low investment in irrigated agriculture and research, climate change, high population growth, poor policy frameworks, weak infrastructural development, and corruption are the major hurdles in the sustaining food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Promoting investments in agricultural infrastructure and extension services together with implementing policies targeted at enhancing the households' purchasing power, especially those in rural regions, appear to be essential drivers for improving both food availability and food access.

The Economic Perspective of Food Poverty and (In)security: An Analytical Approach to Measuring and Estimation in Italy.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals have set clear targets on global poverty, hunger and malnutrition to be achieved by 2030, which have prompted academics and policymakers to identify useful strategies and drivers. Moreover, the COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities at national and sub-national levels thus hampering the achievement of these goals. On considering the multifaceted nature of poverty, a recent research strand focuses on food poverty and insecurity issues in terms of economic access to food and healthy diet consumption, with moderate and extreme food insecurity affecting almost 9% of the population in Europe and North America. This paper aims to analyse food poverty and insecurity at regional level in Italy. Using micro-data from the Italian Household Budget Survey carried out by ISTAT, an analytical approach was proposed to define and measure the different degree of food poverty and insecurity. Moreover, to obtain insights into whether food poverty and insecurity can afford population healthy nutrition, inequality of the distributions of food expenditure categories are estimated. The results provided us with information on other important aspects of the poverty. Indeed, in Italy individuals who are at-risk-of-food-poverty or food insecure amount to 22.3% of the entire population. Furthermore, the at-risk-of-food-poverty-rate varies at regional level from 14.6% (Umbria) to 29.6% (Abruzzo), with high levels of food consumption inequalities observed above all for vegetables, meat and fish. All these issues could help policy makers to define economic intervention policies aimed at reducing social exclusion and achieving more equitable and sustainable living conditions for the entire population.

Determinants of Household Nutrition Security in Countries in Protracted Crisis: Evidence from South Sudan

Undernutrition is a considerable challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in countries affected by a protracted crisis, but the literature lacks information on the underlying mechanisms influencing micro- and macronutrients, and appropriate analytical tools are needed to assist policymakers and implementers. The paper contributes to filling this gap, focusing on the Western Bahr el Ghazal state in South Sudan and using primary data collected in May–June 2019 for a statistically representative sample of households. The literature typically uses one micro- or macronutrient as a proxy of nutritional status. On the contrary, the study applied a MANCOVA with an artificial dependent variable, including protein, vitamin A, and heme iron, in a single experiment to discover the variables that better explain household nutritional status. Dietary diversity explains the largest proportion of variance in household nutritional status. The importance of the variables in explaining the variance in the specific micro- and macronutrients depends on the explanatory variable. Therefore, the results suggest the possible misinterpretation of undernutrition using one nutrient. Moreover, they highlight the importance of a multisectoral approach to the problem with a central role played by agriculture and the urgency of the reinforcement of the humanitarian–development–peace nexus to improve household nutrition security in South Sudan.