Can coffee certification schemes increase incomes of smallholder farmers? Evidence from Jinotega,Nicaragua

This paper investigates the impact of Fairtrade and organic certification on household income of smallholder coffee farmers in the Jinotega Municipality of Nicaragua. Using a sample of 233 coffee farming households and employing endogenous switching regression model and propensity score matching method, the results found that Fairtrade and organic certification standards have different effects on the certified farmers; while Fairtrade farmers had experienced yield gains, organic farmers had the price advantage. However, the overall impact of these certification standards on the total household income is found to be statistically not significant. While some of the Fairtrade-certified cooperatives have used the social premium in creating community-level infrastructure, there is a need for more investment. The major constraint the organic-certified farmers face is lack of availability of adequate organic inputs such as manures and organic herbicides.     

Food-grade nanoencapsulation of vitamins

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Vitamin deficiency arises when the dietary intake of essential vitamins is too low. Insufficient levels of vitamin weaken the body and induce diseases. Although...     

Sustainability of rice production systems: an empirical evaluation to improve policy

An evaluation is needed to monitor the progress of sustainable development (SD) in rice production systems. The purpose of this study is to provide policy inputs, examine the sustainability of rice production, and determine major policy areas. A requisite set of 12 indicators of three dimensions of SD, namely economic, was generated by employing an assemblage of top–down and bottom–up approaches. The data were gathered from farm households’ survey as well as in-depth discussion with stakeholders from the regions that represent irrigated, rain-fed lowland, rain-fed upland, flood-prone, and saline-prone rice-growing ecosystems in Bangladesh. By constructing composite indicators, the results revealed that 44 % of rice growers were economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially developed. The irrigated rice production system was found to be the most sustainable. The path analysis measured the contribution of the indicators to the index, and results highlighted that rice growers’ knowledge, skills, and social networks development, improving land productivity, and integrated nutrient management were essential for promoting sustainable rice production. However, the study findings suggest that pluralistic (i.e., government and non-government) agricultural advisory services can serve as an engine of transition to rice production sustainability in which a multi-year planning and strategy formulation are crucial besides investing in the modernization of extension services. Overall and ecosystem-specific policy implications that emerged from the findings of this study are outlined.     

High consumption of pesticides in agricultural fields leads to prevalence of cancer cases in rural pockets of eastern India: A case study

This study was performed to evaluate the carcinogenic health risk of pesticides used in agricultural field in rural pockets of eastern India. The analysis of pesticide residue in rice grain sample was performed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). It was observed that for pesticide DDT, the HR values was ranging between 0.5 to 3.2 and for lindane HR was 0.4 to 1.1, respectively. The DDT and Lindane exhibited HR values >1 in some sampling sites which revealed the carcinogenic effects and HR <1 in some sampling sites which revealed non carcinogenic effects of same pesticide. These results revealed a clear indication of potential carcinogenic health risk to human health through consumption of contaminated rice in some areas of Bargarh district. DDT has a long half-life, so it persists in the environment for a longer period of time and induces carcinogenic risk to human health predominantly than other pesticide lindane. A case study on cancer prevalence in Bargarh district was also carried out to support the findings of quantitative analysis. The primary data collected from the cancer affected area by personal questionnaires method to the person concern and the secondary data collected from the Bargarh District Head Quarters Hospital's register. The cancer death reported by the from the year 2015 to 2021 was 320, 380, 293, 323, 278, 409, 346 in the year of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 respectively, with the total number of 2349 cases. From the questionnaire data, it was observed that the occurrence of male and female cancer cases was 51.75% and 48.25%, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in gender wise cancer prevalence. The most affected age group was 51–60, that is, 26.92% followed by 41–50, that is, 23.42%. Therefore, it was concluded that the middle-aged adults (40–60) were more vulnerable to the cancer than young adults (3–40) and old adults (60–100). The most prevalent cancer was breast (22.72%) followed by stomach (14.33%).     

Environmental restoration of invaded ecosystems: How much versus how often?

This paper derives the optimal level of restorative efforts required to restore environments degraded by invasive species invasion. Specific attention is focused on a case when restoration faces the risk of failure through relapse of the restored environment caused by repeat invasions. The level of restored environment may also play a role in its future improvement or susceptibility to failure. The tradeoff between the optimal level of environmental quality and number of restorative efforts required to attain that given environmental quality is highlighted.     

Assessment of trace metal contamination in the core sediment of Ramsar wetland (Kabar Tal), Begusarai,Bihar (India)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The concentration of trace metals Mn, Pb, Ni, Zn, and Cu in the core sediment from Kabar Tal wetland was analyzed to understand the level of...     

Prediction of longitudinal dispersion coefficients in natural rivers using artificial neural network

An artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed for predicting the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in natural rivers. The model uses few rivers’ hydraulic and geometric characteristics, that are readily available, as the model input, and the target output is the longitudinal dispersion coefficient (K). For performance evaluation of the model, using published field data, predictions by the developed ANN model are compared with those of other reported important models. Based on various performance indices, it is concluded that the new model predicts the longitudinal dispersion coefficient more accurately. Sensitive analysis performed on input parameters indicates stream width, flow depth, stream sinuosity, flow velocity, and shear velocity to be the most influencing parameters for accurate prediction of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient.     

Sustainability: through cross-cultural community garden activities

ABSTRACT

Indigenous people, international students, immigrants, and refugee families are particularly vulnerable populations that experience a lack of sustainability for various reasons, including lack of belonging and networks, low income, mental stress, and discrimination. Following a relational participatory action research (PAR) process, this study explores the concept of sustainability among First Nations, visible minorities, and non-visible minorities through cross-cultural activities, such as dance and music, children’s art activities, anti-racist workshops, traditional story-sharing, land-based learning, and cross-cultural food sharing in a community garden setting. This paper argues that cross-cultural activities among First Nations, visible and non-visible minorities in a community garden can create positive change in an urban environment by empowering communities through cross-cultural bridging. Throughout the last six years of my participation in various cross-cultural activities, I have learned that empowerment through cross-cultural activities adheres to particular forms of agency: interspecies communication, community building, and learning about decolonisation and reconciliation. This study provides valuable insights for educators whose goals include incorporating land-based learning as well as creating a sense of belonging among cross-cultural communities, ultimately leading to community sustainability.     

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles induce bacterial membrane rupture by reactive oxygen species generation

Nano-titania is widely used in the food industry due to its efficient antimicrobial activity. However, the mechanism of microbial toxicity of nano-titania is poorly known. Here, nano-TiO₂ has been fabricated by microwave-irradiation chemistry, a new method, and then tested for antimicrobial activity. Mutagenicity of nano-TiO₂ was evaluated using Salmonella typhimurium histidine-auxotrophic strains. The reactive oxygen generation test was performed using 2,7-dichlorofluorescein diacetate dye. To test membrane permeabilization, E. coli cultures were grown in nutrient broth at an optical density of 0.3–0.5 at 610 nm, harvested by centrifugation at 11,000g for 10 min, washed and resuspended in 0.5 % NaCl solution. We also analyzed superoxide formation and membrane integrity, and we used scanning electron microscopy. Results show that nano-TiO₂ has a minimum inhibitory concentration of 15 µg/mL, and a minimum bactericidal concentration of 20 µg/mL for E. coli. The bacterial inner wall was ruptured, and cytoplasmic content was released after 5 min of treatment in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, superoxide formation was not observed, which establishes the fact that reactive oxygen generation and alteration of membrane integrity, as well as permeability, is the major mechanism of antimicrobial activity of nano-TiO₂.     

Methane oxidation and abundance of methane oxidizers in tropical agricultural soil (vertisol) in response to CuO and ZnO nanoparticles contamination

There is worldwide concern over the increase use of nanoparticles (NPs) and their ecotoxicological effect. It is not known if the annual production of tons of industrial nanoparticles (NPs) has the potential to impact terrestrial microbial communities, which are so necessary for ecosystem functioning. Here, we have examined the consequences of adding the NPs particularly the metal oxide (CuO, ZnO) on CH₄ oxidation activity in vertisol and the abundance of heterotrophs, methane oxidizers, and ammonium oxidizers. Soil samples collected from the agricultural field located at Madhya Pradesh, India, were incubated with either CuO and ZnO NPs or ionic heavy metals (CuCl₂, ZnCl₂) separately at 0, 10, and 20 μg g^?1 soil. CH₄ oxidation activity in the soil samples was estimated at 60 and 100 % moisture holding capacity (MHC) in order to link soil moisture regime with impact of NPs. NPs amended to soil were highly toxic for the microbial-mediated CH₄ oxidation, compared with the ionic form. The trend of inhibition was Zn 20?>?Zn 10?>?Cu 20?>?Cu 10. NPs delayed the lag phase of CH₄ oxidation to a maximum of 4-fold and also decreased the apparent rate constant k up to 50 % over control. ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis (α?=?0.01) revealed significant impact of NPs on the CH₄ oxidation activity and microbial abundance (p?<?0.0001, and high F statistics). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that PC1 (metal concentration) rendered 76.06 % of the total variance, while 18.17 % of variance accounted by second component (MHC). Biplot indicated negative impact of NPs on CH₄ oxidation and microbial abundance. Our result also confirmed that higher soil moisture regime alleviates toxicity of NPs and opens new avenues of research to manage ecotoxicity and environmental hazard of NPs.