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Sustainability of agro-food supply chains has recently become the subject of greater interest from consumers, firms, governmental organizations and academia as the environment continues to deteriorate. One of the most critical factors influencing the sustainability of an agro-food supply chain is its network design. A particularly challenging aspect in this context is the broad range of influencing indicators associated with the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of sustainability that need to be considered. However, many of these indicators could not be fully integrated or measured by single-step optimization problems. This paper presents a critical literature review of operational research methods for the design of sustainable supply chains. A novel two-stage hybrid solution methodology is proposed. In the first stage, a partner selection is performed using a hybrid multi criteria decision making based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) aggregation method. The result obtained in the first stage is used in the second stage to develop a multi-objective mathematical model to optimize the design of the supply chain network. This approach allows the simultaneous consideration of all three dimensions of sustainability including carbon footprint, water footprint, number of jobs created and the total cost of the supply chain design. The proposed approach generates a Pareto frontier to aid users in making decisions. Numerical experiments are completed utilizing data from an agro-food company to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed solution methodology. The analyzes of the numerical results provide important organizational, practical and policy insights on (1) the impact of financial and environmental sustainability on supply chain network design (2) the tradeoff analysis between environmental emission, water footprint, societal implications and associated cost for making informed decision on supply chain investment.

In recent years, sustainability concerns have gained increasing attention among countries and stakeholders worldwide. Towards the transition to sustainable rural development, the rural web framework (RWF) has become a consistent tool. Indicators from the RWF have been used to explore sustainable rural development for decision-making tasks, which improves the social, economic, and environmental performance of rural regions. However, the application of the RWF in studies is on the decline. Furthermore, there is a lack of literature reviews on the importance of the RWF and its relationship with different facets of sustainable development. We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) (a) to explore how studies have used the RWF in the context of sustainable development and (b) to identify areas for further research. This study found that the RWF has mostly been used in developed countries, with fewer applications in developing countries. We suggest that there should be increased application of the RWF, particularly in developing countries, to broaden the rural web–sustainable development discourse and its relevance. This paper presents several areas where the indicators of the RWF can be applied to illustrate their relevance for policy decisions towards the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Background: Minimizing raw salt and increasing fruit consumption are important factors for controlling blood pressure. The study aimed to investigate the following associations: (i) the association between socio-demographic characteristics and awareness of, and attitudes towards, raw salt and fruit consumption and (ii) the association between salt and fruit consumption and blood pressure. Methods: In a cluster-RCT, 307 adults, aged 30 to 75 years, with hypertension were recruited in 2021. Blood pressure was the primary outcome, and knowledge, attitudes and intakes of raw salt and fruit were secondary outcomes. Results: Of the participants, 271 (78.5%) consumed raw salt. More than 80% of the participants knew that reduced raw salt was good for controlling blood pressure and almost everyone knew that fruits and vegetables were good for health. Despite this, 95% of the participants had a habit of eating fruit irregularly. A lower proportion (64%) of the participants having at least a secondary school certificate (SSC) consumed raw salt, compared with those having an education level SSC (82%), p = 0.002. Blood pressure was not significantly different for participants, irrespective of raw salt or fruit consumption. Conclusions: Raw salt consumption among rural people was high and regular fruit consumption was deficient. They intended to reduce raw salt consumption. Appropriate intervention programs should be implemented to reduce salt consumption and increase fruit consumption.

The poultry industry is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of livestock production in the world. The estimated 2010 world flock was over 18 billion birds with a yearly manure output of 22 million tonnes. Storage and disposal of raw poultry manure has become an environmental problem because of the associated air, water and soil pollution. Environmental and health problems such as odor and pathogens that may arise during and after land application of raw manure can be eliminated by drying. Dried manure can be utilized as a soil conditioner to improve soil tilth and reduce the problems associated with soil compaction and as a feed for ruminants because of its high nitrogen content. The aim of this study was to investigate the kinetics of thin layer drying of poultry manure and evaluate the effects of drying with heated air on the chemical and biological properties of manure. The effects of temperature and depth of manure layer were evaluated. The profile of the moisture content of poultry manure followed an exponential decay curve. The moisture decay constant was affected by the drying temperature and the depth of the manure layer. At the three temperature levels studied, the time required to dry poultry manure in 1 cm-deep layer was the least, followed by 2 and 3 cm-deep layers, respectively. The diffusion coefficient increased with both temperature and depth of drying layer, but did not show a linear increase with either variable. The optimum depth for drying manure (at which the highest drying effectiveness occurred) was 3 cm. Drying manure at 40-60°C resulted in the loss of 44-55% of the total Kjeldahl nitrogen, with losses increasing with both the temperature and depth of manure. The pH of the manure decreased from the initial value of 8.4 before drying to about 6.6 after drying. The odor analysis indicated that dried poultry manure did not have an offensive odor. Drying achieved 65.3 and 69.3% reductions in odor intensity and offensiveness, respectively. Reductions in the number of bacteria, mold/yeast and E.coli were 65-99, 74-99 and 99.97% respectively. The greatest reductions in microbial population occurred at the highest temperatures (60°C) and the thinest manure depths (1 cm). Heated air drying of poultry manure at temperatures between 40 and 60°C was effective in killing pathogens and removing odor.

Two studies conducted in Guadeloupe (West Indies) and Réunion (Indian Ocean) islands were designed to investigate the benefits of producing sugarcane as an energy crop and to assess the influence of agroclimatic factors on energy efficiency, respectively. In this context, it is essential to know the low heating value of the dry above-ground biomass (LHVd, MJ/kg) and its energy yield (EY, MJ/m2) in order to select the best varieties and set up a payment method for growers. Eighteen Poaceae (sugarcane and Erianthus) cultivars were compared under wet tropical environmental conditions in Guadeloupe. Three sugarcane cultivars were studied in four contrasting environments in Réunion. The partition sampling and biomass measurement procedures were identical at both locations. Low heating value (LHV) predictions were achieved using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) after specific calibration (Guadeloupe), or arithmetically after lignocellulosic compound prediction (Réunion). In both studies, LHV variability was very low and slightly dependent on the site, cultivar and above-ground biomass components (millable stalks and tops, and green and dead leaves). Considering the overall dry above-ground biomass (DAB, kg/m2), the LHVd was calculated by averaging 159 samples (mean 16.65 MJ/kg) in Guadeloupe and 315 samples (mean 16.45 MJ/kg) for Réunion. An excellent linear relationship between the DAB and its EY, regardless of cultivar, age and environment, was found (n = 474 and R² = 0.99). Sugarcane energy content assessment could thus be simplified by measuring the DAB, while enabling development of a faster method of payment for growers based on the DAB measurement and the correlation between DAB and EY. Finally, the findings of this study should allow growers to rapidly determine the commercial value of their sugarcane crops, and also enable purchasers to assess the amount of recoverable energy. (Résumé d'auteur)

A new solar dryer, which consisted of a solar air heater and a drying chamber, was developed for drying food products. The present drying system was successfully tested using sultana grapes, green beans, sweet peppers and chilli peppers. The traditional sun-drying experiments were employed and compared with the solar-drying experiments. It was shown that the use of this type of solar dryer reduced the drying time significantly and essentially provided better product quality.

Abstract The impact of wood use by isolated Forest Dependent Communities (FDC) on forest conservation is not well understood. We present a study of wood use in the YUS area (combined watersheds of Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers) in northern Papua New Guinea, where 57 communities depend on forests for their subsistence. Using a survey methodology based on the Poverty and Environment Network (PEN) survey protocol, we assess the annual volume of wood used, primary sources for this wood and evaluate the capacity of natural forest to sustainably support current rates of wood-use as well as their per capita CO 2 emissions. The primary reason for wood extraction was for fuelwood (6.4 kg person −1 day −1 or ∼11.1 tonne household −1 year −1 ) and housing construction (0.6 m −3 household −1 year −1 ). Fuelwood was collected primarily from areas close to the village, in fallow (grassland) and agroforestry land types, while construction wood was being sourced primarily from secondary and primary forests. The volume of construction wood currently harvested across YUS was approximately 11% the annual increase in timber volumes in available and accessible natural forest. Under this wood use rate and projected population growth (2.5–4%) these communities can harvest construction wood at a sustainable rate for between 55 and 90 years. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the CO 2 emissions from wood extraction, and in particular fuelwood, are high; approaching 1.15 tonnes CO 2 person −1 year −1 . Household surveys revealed that all smallholders had a strong interest in planting trees for production of wood for house construction, which could reduce pressures on forests and compensate for CO 2 emissions.

Recent extreme weather events have resulted in an ongoing discussion on the issues of land use and compensation payments within Austrian agriculture. Building on a functional evaluation system for agricultural lands as developed within the Interreg IIIB project “ILUP”, the national project “Agriculture and Flooding” has as its goal to classify the flood-protection contribution and flood sensitivity of agricultural lands. This, in turn, enables the recommendation of targeted measures for potentially improving flood situations, as well as an estimate of their implementation costs. In addition to the digital soil map, other fundamental sources used for the project are the digital flood risk map, IACS land-use data and works by the Institute for Land and Water Management Research. Reference values and marginal returns sourced from the Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics also flow into the cost estimates for the recommended combination. The results will contribute to an understanding of the multifunctionality of agricultural lands and to the setting of priorities on a regional scale regarding packaged flood-prevention and damage-minimization. However, the results at hand can only serve as one step toward regional flood protection projects, whose development will require the cooperation of all interest groups.