This paper examines factors determining farmers‘ adoption decision for improved maize varieties in the maize-common bean intercropping practices in two districts of East Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia. It is based on data collected from 129 farm households using structured questionnaire. Descriptive results revealed that adopters of improved maize varieties had better food and nutrition security status. Furthermore, logit model output indicated that the decision to adopt improved maize varieties is influenced by location (district) dummy, education status of the household head, age of the household head, distance from the main road, and the number of plots owned. Major recommendations include improving the rural road infrastructure, educating and training farmers, organizing experience sharing events among farmers, and raising awareness about the food and nutrition security benefits of sustainable agricultural intensification practices like intercropping improved maize with improved common bean varieties.

This study analysed fisherfolk’s poverty and food insecurity status in the coastal region of Nigeria. Data from 420 artisanal fisherfolk, selected through a multistage sampling procedure, were analysed using descriptive statistics, a multidimensional poverty index approach, a household food insecurity access scale, and Seemingly unrelated regression equation (SURE). Findings from the study showed that about 62% of the respondents lived in households with malnourished individuals, no clean water, no electricity, no education, a dirty floor, inadequate infrastructure, and poor healthcare services. Infrastructure such as markets and road networks had the highest contribution to the poverty intensity with education having the least contribution in the study area. The results revealed that artisanal fisherfolk who are non-poor are more food secure than those who are poor. Also, estimates from SURE show that household size, daily income, and owning a house significantly influenced household food insecurity level, while multidimensional poverty level was significantly influenced by age, education experience, daily income, owning a house, and credit constraint. It is, therefore, recommended that initiatives that address poverty and food insecurity issue among the artisanal fisherfolk in the coastal region of Nigeria should be given utmost priority because of the contribution of the sub-sector to the economy. Also, artisanal fisherfolk are encouraged to diversify their means of livelihood in order to reduce their level of poverty.

The aim of this study was to investigate food safety knowledge levels according to the socio-demographic profiles of young food handlers and to find out the determinants of the knowledge level. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Türkiye; it consisted of sections including hygienic design, freezing and thawing, preparation, cooking and reheating, service, storage, and foodborne diseases sections. The food safety knowledge level differed according to gender, age, income, grade level, and intership status. Participants who coded 60% of the survey statements correctly were considered to have “good” food safety knowledge. Knowledge about cooking and reheating, foodborne diseases, and service was found to be at a poor level, but food safety knowledge (overall) was good (68%). The correct score ratio was found to be the highest for hygienic design. Binary logistic regression presented that gender, income, grade level, and internship status significantly affected knowledge level. The strongest predictors were found to be income of $638-$850 (exp (β)=12.9) and more than $850 (exp (β)=4.6), respectively. This study highlights that female students under the age of 25 with an income of more than $638, who have not yet completed an internship, have the highest level of food safety knowledge. This study presented a holistic approach to the food safety knowledge of young food handlers. These insights can contribute to the development of hygiene/sanitation and food safety course content for culinary and gastronomy students.

This review investigates the effects of heat and drought stress on future food security of Turkish agriculture. Temperature average is expected to rise to 3.2°C at the end of the current century while annual precipitation will decline more than 10% in the west and south and rise by 20% in the north of Türkiye, implying that climate change will affect ecosystem sustainability. It is therefore crucial to develop strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change such as adjusting the planting schedule, reduced tillage, fertiliser microdosing, pre-sowing seed treatment, and the application of growth promoting bacteria to improve tolerance to stress by comprehending how plants respond physiologically and biochemically under these stress conditions. Long-term heat stress may hinder photosynthetic electron transport, decreasing the plant's ability to make use of energy for photosynthesis. The immediate response of plants under drought stress involves closing stomatal openings to reduce water loss through stomatal conductance. Combined heat and drought stress have a greater adverse effect on plant development and production than their effects in isolation. Plant phenotyping can play a major role in “climate-proofing” Turkish agriculture through the identification and development of crop varities with improved prouctivity, climate resilience and input requirements. Digital agriculture will also improve the efficiency of Turkish agricultural systems as the adapt to a hotter drier climate. To ensure future food security and the viability of the agro-economic system in Türkiye steps must be taken to make Turkish agriculture more robust in preparation for the impacts of climate change.

In recent years, intensive legal regulations aimed at the production of urban areas in Türkiye, the phenomenon of migration, the spread of higher education, abnormal cost increases in agricultural activities have accelerated urbanization. Parallel to the increase in the urban population, the food supply remains insufficient. The inability to increase the production of food products brings with it problems such as malnutrition, inflation, foreign trade deficit, food security. The natural areas harbored by rural and urban areas are shrinking and being destroyed by the pressure of rapid urbanization. In addition to the abandonment of rural areas, the food crisis that has arisen as a result of the intervention of the urbanization process in agricultural areas has increased the responsibility of the central government and municipalities. In order to meet the food needs of the population and implement sustainable agricultural policies, municipalities are taking different and innovative approaches. Municipalities are making direct and indirect attempts to provide people with cheap and reliable food. In this study, the activities carried out by the municipalities in Türkiye to support sustainable agriculture and their economic and social effects were examined.

The new coronavirus, emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, turned into a major global pandemic and has caused many deaths around the world. Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected every aspect from economy, education to health system. During Covid-19 pandemic, access to foodstuffs has become even more important, and some countries have imposed restrictions on exports of basic food items for fear of food shortages. These restrictions and quotas are feared to disrupt the flows of trade for staple foods such as wheat, corn and rice, which has deepened the concerns for food security. This study was conducted to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on wheat price, production and trade and to review the policies of wheat exporter countries. According to the results of the study, Covid-19 did not cause fear in wheat markets, and no shortages of wheat are expected in the short term. Although countries have reduced the measures they have taken as of May, uncertainties regarding food safety still persist for the coming years. World economies have shrunk significantly as a result of the drastic measures they have taken against covid-19, which could worsen the situation for low income households.

African eggplants are highly valued constituents of the Nigerian food. However, their nutritional potentials have not been fully tapped due to inadequate information on their nutritional and anti-nutritional qualities. This present study investigated the proximate, minerals, anti-nutrient contents as well as the estimation of mineral ratios and Mineral Safety Index of four selected edible solanum species namely, Solanum anguivi, S. gilo, S. menalogena and S. aethiopicum. The proximate contents (%) ranged from 4.19-5.46 (moisture content), 1.71-2.49 (crude fat), 4.57-5.45 (crude ash), 3.76-4.93 (crude protein), 5.20-6.30 (crude fiber) and 77.14-78.58 (carbohydrate). The solanum species were good sources of energy with total metabolizable energy of 1.458MJ-1.484MJ. The four solanum species contained high K, Ca, Mg, low Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu, while amount of Cd, Ni and Pb were very low. The mineral ratios of K/Na, Ca/Mg, Ca/K, Zn/Cu and [K/(Ca+Mg)] were below the minimum good ratios levels of 1.0, 4.17, 4.0, 8.0 and 2.2 respectively which are good for man. The anti-nutrient contents revealed low phytate, oxalate and cyanide levels. The calculated Phytate/Zn, Phytate/Ca and Oxalate/Ca were lower than the threshold levels and would support absorption and bioavailability of Zn and Ca in the samples while that of Phytate/Fe was above the critical value and this indicates unavailability of iron in these eggplant fruits. The mineral differences observed showed that S. menalogena and S. aethiopicum had greater minerals while the Mineral Safety Index results revealed that the body could not be overloaded with any of the minerals investigated. The eggplants are rich in fiber, ash, carbohydrate and minerals with moderate protein. The low level of the anti-nutrient is good and poses no deleterious effect when consumed. The eggplants have nutritional health benefits; hence, their consumption should be encouraged to address food insecurity in Nigeria

This paper examines factors determining farmers’ adoption decision for improved maize varieties in the maize-common bean intercropping practices in two districts of East Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia. It is based on data collected from 129 farm households using structured questionnaire. Descriptive results revealed that adopters of improved maize varieties had better food and nutrition security status. Furthermore, logit model output indicated that the decision to adopt improved maize varieties is influenced by location (district) dummy, education status of the household head, age of the household head, distance from the main road, and the number of plots owned. Major recommendations include improving the rural road infrastructure, educating and training farmers, organizing experience sharing events among farmers, and raising awareness about the food and nutrition security benefits of sustainable agricultural intensification practices like intercropping improved maize with improved common bean varieties.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been cultivated as an important cereal crop for more than 9,000 years and more than half of the world’s population depend on rice as it is their primary source of energy. Almost 30% of the current world cereal production is represented by the rice alone. It is estimated that the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050 i.e. 34 percent higher than today and for ensuring an ample amount of food and nutrition to such large population, global consumption of cereals will need to increase from 2.6 to 2.9 billion tonnes by 2027. On the other hand, the impacts of climate change in agriculture are expected to be negative, threatening the global food security. Besides, agriculture and global food security will be severely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemics as its after-effects are yet to be ascertained. The world needs an introduction of a new “Green revolution” in agriculture to increase crop production for food security and biofuel, because conventional breeding method have not brought much of gains not keeping its pace with the world population growth. Hence, the current study was done to review the various ongoing approaches and possible ways of designing a rice with enhanced productivity and photosynthetic capacity. One of the ways to increase yields, photosynthetic capacity accompanied by an increased Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and Nutrient Use Efficiency could be to introduce C4 traits into rice. Besides, genetic engineering using CRISPR-Cas9, molecular breeding, developing ideotype, heterosis breeding, developing apomictic rice, nitrogen fixing rice, use of nanotechnology as well as precision farming are the probable future approaches for designing a rice with high productivity. However, there are challenges and limitations in developing such rice and further research in this matter could help us get closer to developing the future rice.