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Les effets bénéfiques du vermicast sur la fertilité des sols en général, et de l'agriculture en particulier, sont largement reconnus, mais il n'existe aucun rapport sur l'effet du stockage sur la qualité du vermicast. La présente étude tente de combler cette lacune en matière de connaissances, car elle peut aider à formuler des lignes directrices pour l'emballage et le stockage du vermicaste d'une manière qui préserve la valeur fertilisante du plâtre. Le vermicast généré à partir de déchets de papier a été emballé dans des sacs hermétiques et partiellement scellés avec et sans pré-séchage pendant 24 h. Les changements dans plusieurs propriétés physiques, chimiques et biologiques des pièces coulées ont été surveillés pendant 3 mois avec des évaluations hebdomadaires. Les résultats révèlent que les propriétés bénéfiques du vermicast étaient les plus élevées lorsqu'il était frais. Il y avait une détérioration au stockage, qui peut être minimisée si les pièces moulées sont contenues dans des sacs hermétiques après le pré-séchage des pièces moulées. Los efectos beneficiosos del vermicast sobre la fertilidad del suelo en general, y la agricultura en particular, son ampliamente reconocidos, pero no hay informes sobre el efecto del almacenamiento en la calidad del vermicast. El presente estudio es un intento de cubrir esta brecha de conocimiento, ya que puede ayudar en la formulación de pautas para el envasado y almacenamiento de vermicast de una manera que preserve el valor de fertilizante del molde. Vermicast generado a partir de residuos de papel se envasó en bolsas herméticas y parcialmente selladas con y sin presecado durante 24 h. Los cambios en varias propiedades físicas, químicas y biológicas de las piezas moldeadas se monitorearon durante 3 meses con evaluaciones semanales. Los resultados revelan que las propiedades beneficiosas del vermicast eran más altas cuando estaba fresco. Hubo un deterioro en el almacenamiento, que puede minimizarse si las piezas moldeadas están contenidas en bolsas herméticas después de secar previamente las piezas moldeadas. The beneficial effects of vermicast on soil fertility in general, and agriculture in particular, are widely recognized, but there are no reports on the effect of storage on vermicast quality. The present study is an attempt to cover this knowledge gap as it may assist in the formulation of guidelines for packaging and storing of vermicast in a manner that preserves the cast's fertilizer value. Vermicast generated from paper waste was packed in airtight and partially sealed bags with and without pre-drying for 24 h. Changes in several physical, chemical, and biological properties of the castings were monitored for 3 months with weekly assessments. The results reveal that the beneficial properties of vermicast were the highest when it was fresh. There was deterioration on storage, which can be minimized if the castings are contained in airtight bags after pre-drying the casts. من المسلم به على نطاق واسع الآثار المفيدة للدودة على خصوبة التربة بشكل عام، والزراعة على وجه الخصوص، ولكن لا توجد تقارير عن تأثير التخزين على جودة الدودة. هذه الدراسة هي محاولة لتغطية هذه الفجوة المعرفية لأنها قد تساعد في صياغة مبادئ توجيهية لتعبئة وتخزين الصب الدودي بطريقة تحافظ على قيمة الأسمدة المدلى بها. تم تعبئة Vermicast المتولدة من النفايات الورقية في أكياس محكمة الإغلاق ومغلقة جزئيًا مع التجفيف المسبق وبدونه لمدة 24 ساعة. تم رصد التغييرات في العديد من الخصائص الفيزيائية والكيميائية والبيولوجية للمسبوكات لمدة 3 أشهر مع تقييمات أسبوعية. تكشف النتائج أن الخصائص المفيدة للدودة كانت الأعلى عندما كانت طازجة. كان هناك تدهور في التخزين، والذي يمكن تقليله إلى الحد الأدنى إذا كانت المسبوكات موجودة في أكياس محكمة الإغلاق بعد التجفيف المسبق للقوالب.

Herbs play a critical role, mainly as food source and supplementary source of natural medicine. In Malaysia there are numerous communities and ethnic groups who are still performing the use of herb as a part of their daily cuisine. One such community in Malaysia is the Siamese community of Kelantan, located on northern part of Kelantan, adjoining to Thailand. This community has historic tradition of consuming herbs with medicinal value. They consume a large number of herbs as concoction in rice cooking, also known as ‘herbal rice’. The present study was piloted to survey and record the type and parts of herbs used in the concoction. The current study was conducted via in-depth interview with local people from three village in Kelantan namely Kampung Kuang, Tanah Merah, Kampung Pasir Puteh, Tumpat dan Kampung Mentua, Tumpat, Kelantan. Total 45 herbs belonged to 24 families were documented. The parts of herb being consumed and used in concoction were leaves, stem, stalk, flower and rhizome.

It can be easily guessed that food issue will be the next upcoming global issue for humans considering the current situation of drastic increase of world human population. Asia is one of the regions which is specifically famous and popular for agricultural production, therefore the important role of Asia to play to the world may be the increase of food production and the supply for feeding the people facing to hunger and poverty. The author proposed the project named Asia Food Project attached with Asia Techno Farm Initiative, practical OJT (On the Job Training) program to achieve the final goal of making Asia as the world food pantry and to create the original Asia food brand. In this paper the importance of applying high technology based smart agriculture consisting of mainly precision agriculture, robotics and green factory is discussed as the important program content including the achievement process how to follow the steps of proposed procedure,.

Production of first generation biofuels using food crops is under criticism over sustainability issues on food security. Tanzania is showing active interest in developing second generation biofuels to deal with some of such issues, especially from the feedstock point of view. This paper reports work done to determine energy characteristics of rice and coffee husks. The results show that coffee husks have better energy quality than rice husks, while heating values of coffee are 18.34 MJ/kg and 13.24 MJ/kg for rice husk. Thermogravimetric analysis made for coffee husks blended rice husks at a ratio of 75 : 25% vol. show better material degradation characteristics yielding low residual mass of 23.65%, compared to 26.50% of char and ash remaining in pure rice husks. Derivative thermogravimetric analysis shows comparable hemicellulose degradation peak values of −11.5 and −11.2 and cellulose −3.20 and −2.90 in pure coffee and rice husks, respectively. In coffee and rice husks blends, substantial reductions of hemicellulose and cellulose peaks were observed. Use of coffee and rice husks blends applying high temperature gasification would reduce the latter’s flammability, while increasing its flame retention characteristics, hence offering opportunities for production of clean syngas in a sustainable manner.

Environmental issues has been rather important topics and given priority in the public agenda of both developed and developing countries. It is a fact that in developed countries highly industrialized agriculture based on intensive input use creates a lot of problems on environment such as soil degradation, pesticide pollution etc. The economies of the most developing countries depend proportionately more on primary industries than do developed ones. They usually have a greater proportion of their population involved in agriculture. Thus, degradation of environmental resources has the potential for being more highly destructive of productive assets in developing countries. In industrial countries, environmental quality issues hinge primarily on matters of human health and the aesthetic quality of the environment. In developing countries, on the other hand, environmental issues are related to human health and productivity and also to the degradation of the future productivity of the natural resource base on which many people are directly dependent. As a result, agriculture, environment and economy has to be evaluated as comlementary issues.

Farmland exhibits multifunctionality by preventing flooding and soil erosion and providing social and cultural community comfort. All these functions are essential for sustainable rural development. However, the multifunctionality of farmland is decreasing worldwide because of an aging society, depopulation and income disparity between flat lands and hilly mountainous lands. Regarding the consequences of abandonment, abandonment is intimately linked with the wider issue of the stagnation of the rural economy. The direct payment policy for hilly mountainous land is aimed at restraining farmland abandonment through community-based activities. The panel data difference in differences (DID) estimator was employed to observe the effect of direct payments on the rate of restraining farmland abandonment at the municipality level of the Hokkaido prefecture in Japan for the period of 2005–2015. We estimated that the direct payment implementation provided a 2% effectiveness for restraining the increase in the rate of abandonment as the result of DID estimation. On the other hand, the age group of 65 years or older was negatively correlated with farmland abandonment, which contradicts the general understanding. Older farmers have relatively more interest in contributing to and preserving their community. Therefore, the direct payment can encourage them to participate more in their community preservation. From these results, we concluded that it is necessary to promote farmland consolidation to compensate for the lack of inheritors. In addition, providing direct payment for a well-organized community or active stakeholders can be an effective way of utilizing governmental budgets and sustaining rural development.

Abstract We assess the energy contents of agricultural and forestry residues in Spain, and the potential for the generation of electricity from them. The methodology employed is a hierarchical, GIS-based one, and leads through the physical, geographical and technical potential to the economic analysis. The results from the latter are crafted in the form of generation-cost curves, which provide a good indication of how the cost of the energy increases as the generation from these residues does. Geo-referenced data allow for the consideration of the opposing influences on the specific cost of the plant size and the transport costs, which are both incorporated in the model by means of a plant supply area. A representative cost is defined and used to compare costs among biomass sources and combustion technologies. The combined technical potential of agriculture and forestry residues is 118 PJ y−1 (equivalent to 11.25% of the net electric energy generated in Spain in 2008). The economic potential (defined as the potential with a cost smaller than the representative one) is 46.3 PJ y−1 (or 4.43% of net electric energy generated in Spain in 2008).

Significant greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from all sectors of human enterprise are necessary to avoid further effects and reduce the current effects of climate change. Agriculture and the global food system are estimated to contribute to one-third of all anthropogenic GHGs. In British Columbia, Canada, mandated GHG reduction targets and voluntary climate action programs are challenging local governments to include emission reduction targets, policies, and actions within official planning documents. At this early stage of GHG reductions, local government attention does not yet include agriculture but is directed toward the transportation, buildings, and waste management sectors. Given agriculture's contribution to GHG emissions and local government's engagement with GHG mitigation and food system planning, it seems reasonable to anticipate that over time, local governments should and will engage increasingly in reducing GHGs from agriculture. With the goal of advancing agriculture GHG mitigation by local governments, this paper reviews the jurisdictional powers governing agriculture and climate change within British Columbia. It examines how local governments can support mitigation within the sector through their roles in planning, policy, programming, and public engagement, and identifies potential research agenda items.