In vitro study was carried out to measure methane (CH4) production and ruminal fermentation parameters of tropical forages either commonly used and with a potential for inclusion in Colombian livestock systems. The forages evaluated wereUrochloa hybrid cv. Cayman, Leucaena leucocephala, Leucaena diversifolia, Megathyrsus maximus cv. Mombaza, Urochloa brizantha cv. Toledo, Canavalia brasiliensis,Urochloa decumbens, Tithonia diversifolia and Dichantium aristatum. which were incubated using the in vitro gas technique for 96 h. Treatments with higher neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein (PC) contents had higher gas production, dry matter (DM) degradability and the highest CH4 production (ml/g DMd) at 24 hours. Methane at 24 hours of incubation varied between 4.69 and 8.10 ml and increased by 43% on average at 48 hours. In all treatments, the highest proportion of volatile fatty acid (VFAs) corresponded to acetate, which was more than 50% of the total VFAs produced. Treatments with Urochloa hybrid cv. Cayman and their associations with Leucaena diversifolia had the lowest CH4 production values at 24 h. Similarly, treatments with Cayman grass, its associations with Leucaena and Toledo grass alone showed the highest DM degradability values. In conclusion, the inclusion of Leucaena and Tithonia diversifolia on a diet based on forage grass (Cayman or Toledo) had a positive effect on nutrient content and degradability and the group of treatments that included Cayman grass and its associations had lower CH4 production values and higher degradability than the rest of the treatments.

The topic of the article is especially relevant, because not only in Lithuania, but also all over the world, due to human activities, climate change and other processes, the most natural component of the landscape-wetlands-is rapidly disappearing. Wetlands not only have a unique biodiversity, are valuable elements of the landscape, but also perform many important functions for humanity. Drainage of wetlands results in the loss of most of these functions, as well as secondary problems such as greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution by peat decomposition products, and many others. Wetlands are declining or deteriorating in many parts of the world. More than 90% of former wetlands have been destroyed or severely damaged in Western Europe, more than 50% in Central Europe and about 70% in Southeast Asia. The aim of this article is to determine the change in the areas of Lithuanian wetlands. Thus, the study found that wetland areas were declining in all counties of the country. The largest percentage decrease in wetlands was in Kaunas (67.43%) and Tauragė (54.33%) counties. During the period of 2002-2021, the area of wetlands in the Republic of Lithuania decreased by 50,893.11 ha (34.60%) and in 2021 accounted for 0.15% of the country’s territory, while in 2002 – 2.25%. In order to protect the wetlands, it is necessary to take special measures, carry out intensive projects and works for the restoration of wetlands.

Agrifood systems are both a contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an important sector for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal and mitigating climate change. Rising global temperatures and frequent extreme weather have greatly weakened agricultural production capacity (IPCC, 2021). The need to mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions has global consensus. In 2020, the Chinese government made an important commitment toward peaking its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Under China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal, the contribution of agrifood systems to GHG emissions reduction cannot be ignored. According to estimates by the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University (AGFEP, 2021), GHG emissions from agrifood systems reached 1.09 billion metric tons (t) of CO2eq in 2018, accounting for 8.2 percent of total national GHG emissions. While ensuring food security as the top national priority, the combined measures can reduce GHG emissions by 47 percent by 2060, compared to 2020 levels; these measures include improving agricultural technologies, reducing food loss and waste, and shifting dietary patterns. When coupled with the carbon sequestration of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), agrifood systems can contribute significantly to achieving carbon neutrality (AGFEP, 2021). | Non-PR | 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; DCA; IFPRI4 | DSGD

In recent decades, agricultural support policies in many countries have played an active role in promoting food production and reducing hunger and poverty. Remarkable achievements have been made globally in agricultural production, with rapid growth in output of agricultural products outpacing population growth. Populations’ food consumption has increased and the number of undernourished people has decreased significantly. Particularly in China, agricultural reforms that were initiated in the late 1970s have increased farmers’ incomes and improved dietary quality. By 2020, China had achieved a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and had eliminated hunger and poverty. This chapter reviews domestic and international agricultural support policies and their impacts. China's experience of developing agricultural support policies has been summed up in order to, on the one hand, provide a reference for other developing countries. On the other hand, China is now implementing new national development goals of nutrition and health, green and high quality development, common prosperity, and institutional opening. The analysis of the challenges being faced in the course of implementing the corresponding new agricultural support policies can help optimize these policies. | Non-PR | IFPRI4; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; DCA | DSGD

On March 6, 2022, at the Fifth Session of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that China needs to improve the lives and livelihoods of its people and to ensure an adequate food supply by providing enough meat, vegetables, fruit, and aquatic products for healthy diets. Understanding the changing trends of people’s dietary structure and encouraging people to eat more healthily is central to establishing the “Big Food” concept. The country should actively promote reform of the agricultural supply side in order to achieve a balance between the supply of, and demand for, various types of food and to better meet the increasingly diversified food consumption needs of the people. | Non-PR | IFPRI4; DCA; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all | DSGD

China's economy has developed rapidly in recent years, achieved historic reductions in poverty, and has met the ambitious goal of creating a moderately prosperous society. In this new stage, the Chinese government has announced multiple development goals, including improving national nutrition and health, achieving green, low-carbon, and sustainable development, and achieving common prosperity, and made commitments to reach its carbon emission peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Great changes have taken place in China's agrifood systems in this process, with a significant increase in agricultural productivity, extension of supply chains, an increased supply of agricultural products, and a significant improvement in residents’ food consumption, nutrition, and health. Agricultural support policies have played an important role in promoting agrifood systems transformation, increasing agricultural production, ensuring food quantity, and providing residents with abundant and diverse food. | Non-PR | 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; DCA; IFPRI4 | DSGD

Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s income distribution gap has widened. The Gini coefficient of national residents’ income rose from 0.31 in 1981 to a historic high of 0.49 in 2008 and has continued to hover at a high of 0.46 in the recent years (Molero-Simarro, 2017; Li and Zhu, 2018; Luo et al., 2021). Narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents is the key to reducing China’s Gini coefficient. The ratio of per capita income between urban and rural residents exhibited an overall growth trend before 2009, despite the increase in disposable income per capita of rural residents from 134 yuan in 1978 to 18,931 yuan in 2021. In 2007, the urban–rural income ratio exceeded 3:1 for the first time and contributed over 50% to the Gini coefficient of the national income distribution (Li and Wan, 2013). Since 2009, the urban–rural income gap has decreased; however, the decline has nearly halted post 2014. In 2021, the urban–rural income ratio was still as high as 2.5:1, almost equal to that in 1978 and larger than that in developed countries, which have a level of approximately 1:1 or lower. | Non-PR | 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; DCA; IFPRI4 | DSGD

The present study analyses the income, saving and saving gap among agricultural households (HHs) to understand their investment behaviour, using the data obtained from the NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) 2016-17, which was conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The NAFIS had the crop year 2015-16 (kharif and rabi seasons) as the reference year. It covered more than 40,000 households, of which 55% were agricultural HHs and the remaining were non-agricultural HHs. The sample was drawn from all the states, and covered farmers with different size of land holdings. Direct enquiries were made about HHs income, expenditure on food and non-food items including farm inputs, amount deposited in bank and invested in financial and physical assets, outreach of institutional credit, financial inclusion and so on.