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Author(s): Suresh Janani [1,2]; Srinivasan Krithica [3]; Sachi B. Saranya [4]; Shinde Lakshmi [5]; Ram M. R. Nivethikka [1]; Jathanna J. Shefali [3]; Subramaniyam Saravanan [4]; K. Eshwari [6]; Ramesh [...], Context: Agriculture is one of the occupations with the highest risk of injuries and fatalities but the farmers are ignorant about eye care and eye safety. Aim: The current study aims at understanding the occupational hazard and ocular morbidities associated with agriculture and the effect of safety eyewear. Settings and Design: Multicenteric, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in two states of India: Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Subjects were agriculture workers recruited by convenience sampling. Methods and Material: The study was done in three phases: Phase 1: Visual task analysis (VTA), Phase 2: Comprehensive eye examination, and Phase 3: Spectacle compliance assessment. The Standard of Living Index scale was administered to assess the socioeconomic status of the participants. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: A study involving 276 workers (39.4% male, 65.2% female) found that VTA agricultural tasks were visually less demanding but hazardous, carrying the risk of ocular and nonocular injuries. Ocular injuries accounted for 9.4% (26 cases), while nonocular injuries accounted for 9.8% (27 cases). Spectacle compliance assessment revealed that 91.8% (157 out of 171 workers) reported improved visual comfort, reduced dust exposure, and enhanced safety with safety eyewear. Conclusions: This study illustrates numerous types of hazards associated with the occupation of farming. The study population had a 9.4% prevalence of ocular injuries. Refractive safety eyewear was reported to improve worker visual comfort. Keywords: Farmers, hazard, ocular injury, ocular morbidities, safety eyewear

Sustainable food production is not negotiable if food security is to be achieved. Recent statistics show increasing food insecurity issues in Nigeria despite government policy and programmes in the agricultural sector. The study specifically described agriculture growth trend under three policy regimes and analysed the effects of agricultural sector policy on food security in Nigeria between 1960 and 2020. Secondary data on agricultural output, gross deficit financing, labour employed in the agricultural sector, land, and population were obtained from World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The data were analysed using trend analysis and Dummy Variable Regression (DVR) model. The Instantaneous Growth Rate (IGR) and compound growth rate (CGR) were respectively 3 percent and 7.2 percent in 1960 - 1969, 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent in 1970 - 1985, and 3.4 percent and 8.1 percent in 1986 - 2020; the country experienced stagnated pattern of growth in the agriculture sector within the oil boom and policy reconstruction period with an instantaneous and compound growth rate of 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. An IGR and CGR of 3.4 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively were recorded during the policy stabilization era with an accelerating growth pattern. The intercept of agricultural output and per capita food production of the period with complete agricultural policy document differs from the period with no policy document by 36.8 percent and 39.8 percent, respectively, revealing an increase in the value of agricultural output and per capita food production in the period with a national policy document. The study concludes that availability of agricultural sector policy document directly impacts food security. The post-estimation tests on the models confirmed that policy implications emanating from this study are adoptable to improve food security in Nigeria through the agricultural sector policy. Proper and efficient policy mix to support agricultural production was recommended. Key words: Agricultural policy, Agricultural output, Acceleration, Dummy Variable Regression (DVR), Food security, Sustainability, Nigeria, INTRODUCTION The agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has huge potential for both consumption and export; hence, key to development; a significant percentage of the entire labour force is engaged [...]

Coastal Kenya is arid and semi-arid. Farmers in coastal Kenya use saline borehole irrigation water for crop production. There is limited information regarding the perception of farmers on effect and management of salinity on crop production. This study assessed farmers' perception on effects and management of saline water on soil and crops in coastal Kenya. The study was carried out in Kilifi County (Kaloleni, Magarini and Kilifi sub-Counties) and Kwale County (Msambweni and Matuga sub-Counties). A purposive sampling procedure was used to select farmers from the two study sites. Farmers owning boreholes and practicing irrigated agriculture for at least three calendar years were selected per site resulting in a sample size of 30 farmers from each county. Data were obtained from sampled farmers through interviews and structured questionnaires. The farmers' survey was undertaken using a single - visit survey approach. Data collected were divided into four subsections, which include, socio-demographic profiles, farmers' sources of information on crop production, history of borehole water, crops grown and soil and water management. Survey data were coded and analyzed using SPSS software, version 14. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that all (100 %) household size in Kilifi County and 92.2 % of Kwale County consisted of four or less members, showing that the smaller household sizes depended on irrigated crop production either for food or income generation. Radio was the most common means of communication (Kilifi 90 % and Kwale 87.5 %) through national and vernacular languages. Farmers in Kilifi County (93.3 %) and Kwale County (86.7 %) did not belong to any agricultural society. This meant that some farmers lacked information on the advantages and how agricultural societies are formed. Farmers growing crops under irrigation in Kwale County obtained water from boreholes. Farmers in both counties never tested the quality of borehole water used to irrigate their crops. All farmers (100 %) in Kwale County and 86.7 % in Kilifi County reported gradual decline in yield, 13.3 % of famers in Kilifi County reported stunted growth, 84.6 % of farmers from Kilifi County and 78.6 % from Kwale County reported that salts in irrigation water (indicated by white residues on soil after irrigation) accumulate in soil over time that degraded the soil and harmed plants. Farmers in both counties (Kilifi 84.6 % and Kwale 64.3 %) use manure during planting to manage their soils. Key words: Salinity, Farmers' perception, Soil and water management, Irrigation water quality, INTRODUCTION The beginning of the 21st century is marked by global water shortage, increased water and soil salinization, increasing human population, and reduction of available land for cultivation [1]. World [...]

The study of Maori agriculture in New Zealand is hindered by lack of direct evidence in the form of plant remains and on Auckland Isthmus also by lack of excavation sites due to extensive urbanization. Recent demolition and earthworks for the construction of an apartment complex at Newmarket on the isthmus exposed a Maori shell midden. The midden was analyzed for plant (pollen, phytoliths, and starch) and parasite microfossils to shed light on Maori activity on the isthmus. he plant microfossil and [.sup.14]C results show large-scale landscape disturbance by people and the discovery of pollen from the Maori-introduced cultigens Colocasia esculenta (taro), Cordyline cf.fruticosa (t - pore), and possibly Broussonetia papyrifera (aute, paper mulberry) demonstrates agricultural activity. In addition, phytoliths of B. papyrifera and starch and xylem of cf C. esculenta and cf. Ipomoea batatas (kunara, sweet potato) were identified. The parasitological analysis identified egg packets of Dipylidium caninum, a dog parasite that would have adversely affected dogs and people on the isthmus. These microfossil types and their affinities are described in detail and discussed with reference to archaeological contexts elsewhere in New Zealand and the wider Pacific Island region, reviewing the locations and types of both macro- and microfossils of these cultigens and parasites previously reported in the Pacific Islands. Given the highly variable production and preservation of different organic tissues, the study also highlights the value of combining the three different types of analyses for the study of ancient human activity, in this case providing evidence of four of the six Maori-introduced cultigens and a dog parasite from a single midden. KEYWORDS: agriculture, introduced plants, Polynesian cultigens, helminth eggs., INTRODUCTION Based largely on phytogeographic data and early ethnographic accounts, early Polynesian colonists introduced a large number (70+) of plant cultigen species to the Pacific Islands (Whistler 2009). Almost all [...]

From 1996 to 2016, Brazil faced great fluctuations in both its exchange and interest rates and simultaneously a huge growth of its agriculture has taken place. Examining the literature that deals with the relationships among these three variables (interest rate, exchange rate and agriculture GDP) we verified that monetary and exchange shocks can affect directly and/or indirectly (through relative prices) the agriculture GDP. However, these effects can be coincident or contrary between them. What actually happened in Brazil from 1996 to 2016? This article aimed to access the direct and indirect effects of monetary and exchange rate shocks on Brazil's agriculture GDP taking into consideration years ranging from 1996 thru 2016. Using quarterly data for the 1996-2016 period, autoregressive vector models (VAR and VEC) were estimated. The exchange rate and monetary shocks were analyzed considering three different interest rate types, namely: the current Brazil's Federal Funds Rate (Nominal SELIC rate), real interest rate of agricultural loans, and ex-ante real interest rate. We also analyzed the effect of the exchange rate separately on prices paid and on prices received by the agriculture (both make up the relative prices of agriculture) using an ARDL (Distributed Lag Self-Regressive Model) model with monthly data. Our econometric results revealed that both direct and indirect effects of monetary shocks were negative on the agriculture growth while the direct and indirect effects of exchange rate shocks were mutually contradictory themselves on the Brazil's agriculture GDP. Because of the technical changes that have taken place during the 2000s and the 2010s, which turned some of the most representative crops more dependent on imported inputs, and the hedging behavior that the firms have adopted during the first two decades of the [21.sup.st] century, which protects them from exchange oscillations, the agricultural sector lost sensitivity to the exchange rate variations in some extent. Regarding policy implications, it could be said that monetary policy can be efficient in the promotion of the agricultural sector, and, in fact, Brazilian government has been doing such through the rural credit subsidized interest rate. Exchange policy, on the other hand, proved to be inefficient in favoring the agriculture, or, in other words, the government can freely exercise exchange policy without regards to harm the agricultural sector. JEL classifications: C32, C22, E23, E43, F43, F62, Q11, Q14, Q17 Keywords: Agriculture; Exchange rate shocks; Monetary Shocks; VAR; ARDL; Brazil; Contact author's email address: pedromachado.an@gmail.com, INTRODUCTION Brazil's macroeconomic environment has intensely changed since the implementation of the Real Plan on July [1.sup.st], 1994. The following twenty-seven years have been marked by huge Exchange rate and [...]

Thirty years after the discovery of an Early Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie in Scotland was reported in Antiquity, new analysis of the site's archaeobotanical assemblage, featuring 20 000 cereal grains preserved when the building burnt down in the early fourth millennium BC, provides new insights into early farming practices. The results of stable isotope analyses of cereals from Balbridie, alongside archaeobotanical and stable isotope results from three other sites, indicate that while cereals were successfully cultivated in well-established plots without manuring at Balbridie, a variety of manuring strategies was implemented at the other sites. These differences reinforce the picture of variability in cultivation practices across Neolithic North-west Europe. Keywords: Scotland, Neolithic, stable isotopes, cereal cultivation, archaeobotany, agriculture, Introduction Excavation between 1977 and 1981 of a cropmark at Balbridie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Figure 1), revealed a substantial timber hall of a form previously only associated in Scotland with buildings [...]

Understanding the timing and nature of ancient agricultural development in the Philippines is hindered by a paucity of direct evidence of crops, that is, plant remains identified to taxa. Here we present analysis of plant microfossils (pollen, phytoliths, and starch) with the addition of ceramic and parasitological analyses of archaeological samples from Andarayan, Cagayan Valley, Northern Luzon to shed light on human activity in the region. Combined with previous ceramic and alluvial records from this area, the results are consistent with a continuity of a Neolithic subsistence tradition throughout the Cagayan Valley and its tributaries for the last 4000 to 500 years. Rice (Oryza sativa), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and cf. cassava (Manihot esculenta) starch provide evidence for cultivation of these taxa in the catchment. As plant taxa vary considerably in their production and preservation of different tissue types, the study also shows the value of a combined plant microfossil approach to cast the net widest when looking for direct evidence of horticulture. The parasitological analysis, showing a range of helminth parasites of humans and their commensals (dogs, pigs, and rats), to our knowledge represents the first ancient helminth eggs reported for the Philippines. Keywords: ancient agriculture, Oryza sativa, Colocasia esculenta, Manioc esculenta, helminth eggs, plant microfossils, INTRODUCTION Research of the timing and nature of ancient agricultural development in the Philippines includes some countering viewpoints. Some workers have suggested that Austronesian speaking people migrated from their homeland [...]