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Sub-Saharan Africa’s youths are change agents for sustainable food system transformation: Evidence, Challenges and Opportunities
No full textTransforming Africa’s agriculture and food system to become more sustainable, resilient and equitable requires urgent systemic change. This chapter focuses on the critical role of youth as agents of transformation. It synthesises emerging evidence on how young people across Sub-Saharan Africa play a transformative role in the transition toward sustainable and resilient food systems. Drawing on examples from a wide range of contexts, the chapter focuses on underreported pathways through which youth are driving change towards sustainability through efforts in regenerative agriculture, digital and climate-smart technologies, circular economy practices, agro-processing, sustainable agribusiness models, and inclusive value chains. Despite the growing momentum behind youth-led agricultural sustainable food system transformation in Africa, several systemic barriers limit these efforts' scalability and long-term impact. The chapter proposes strategic recommendations focused on youth-responsive policy reform, including tailored financing mechanisms and institutional support for skills development and innovation to sustain the momentum of sustainable food system transformation. The findings contribute to policy and academic debates on sustainable development, food security, and youth empowerment, offering insights for aligning national strategies with global goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 and SDG 12
Impacts of inorganic and organic fertilization on soil organic carbon and crop production: a meta-analysis
Full text linkEnhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) is critical for climate mitigation and stable crop production, yet the effectiveness of different fertilization strategies varies widely across environmental and management contexts. To clarify these inconsistencies, empirical field data from major grain-producing regions of northern China were synthesized using meta-analysis, regression models, random forest algorithms, and partial least squares path modeling to systematically evaluate the impacts of chemical fertilization (CF), organic fertilization (OF), and combined organic–inorganic fertilization (COF) on SOC dynamics. Results showed that CF, OF, and COF increased SOC content by 13%, 34%, and 39%, respectively, with long-term application (>20 years) further amplifying carbon sequestration. Pronounced spatial heterogeneity was observed. In Northeast China (NEC) with higher initial SOC, over 80% of sites showed absolute SOC gains exceeding 10 g C kg-1, with COF most effective. In Huanghuaihai Farming Region of China (HFR), characterized by lower baseline SOC, relative gains reached 63%, and OF showed stronger effects. Across soil textures, OF consistently achieved the largest SOC improvements, and under nutrient-limited conditions, SOC enhancement followed the order OF > COF > CF. Test duration emerged as the dominant driver of SOC accumulation, while climate, nitrogen availability, and initial SOC modulated responses under different regimes. Structural equation modeling indicated that SOC mediated yield responses under CF, whereas direct soil and management effects dominated under OF and COF. These findings emphasize that fertilization management strategies should fully consider regional initial SOC levels and integrate carbon-enhancing practices within broader conservation-oriented farming systems to simultaneously enhance soil carbon sequestration, sustain crop productivity, and provide actionable evidence for promoting sustainable agricultural intensification and national carbon neutrality goals
Mechanistic Insights and Design Strategies for Hydrogel/Aerogel Sorbents in Remediation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
Full text linkPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used for several decades in various sectors, including aerospace, construction, the military, and the production of goods, among others. This widespread use has significantly contaminated water bodies globally. Several government agencies and organizations are trying to develop advanced technologies such as oxidation, membrane filtration, adsorption, and ion-exchange resin to capture these chemicals and thus mitigate their impacts. Adsorption has proven to be a highly attractive method for removing PFAS, involving activated carbon, silica, bioadsorbents, anion-exchange resin, hydrogels, and nonion exchange polymers. Among different adsorbents, hydrogels are the most effective adsorbents for removing these forever chemicals due to their highly porous structure, reuse and regeneration ability, and ease of functionalization with specific groups for effective binding with PFAS molecules. Keeping in view their tremendous potential, this Review critically reviews the potential of underexplored hydrogel/aerogels-based sorbents developed from synthetic polymers as well as biopolymers. The use of different cross-linkers, co-monomers, inorganic and organic additives, and surface functionalization techniques on the PFAS removal ability of the resulting hydrogels/aerogels under varying pH, background species concentration, PFAS concentration, and temperature was thoroughly discussed. Furthermore, the underlying adsorption mechanisms (ionic, hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding, and F–F interactions) of hydrogels and aerogels for PFAS adsorption from a molecular perspective were also examined. Finally, the challenges inhibiting the large-scale production of these adsorbents and the scope of ionic fluorogel and thermosensitive hydrogels have also been thoroughly reviewed
The antimicrobial alternative precursor-derived peracetic acid and zinc oxide lead to a sex dependent microbial modulation in weaning piglets
Full text linkSeveral authors described the sexual dimorphism of the gut microbiota in pigs and other animals in relation to sex-specific modulation following interventions such as diet or prebiotics and probiotics. These differences can also influence the host phenotype through the bi-directional pathways of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and could ultimately impact an animal's welfare and well−being. Postweaning diarrhoea is a multifactorial disease that occurs in piglets and is characterised by the sudden diet change from the sow milk to solid feedstuff, with moderate to heavy diarrhoea, accompanied by decreased performance, usually BW gain. In our previous work, we described that the broad-spectrum antimicrobial-alternative peracetic acid ameliorated the diarrhetic symptoms in piglets similarly to what was observed for zinc oxide. Here, we present a further analysis of this data set, assessing the interactions between interventions and sex. A 14-day animal study was carried out, during which 28-day−old, weaned piglets were allocated to 24-floor pens with four treatments, six pens and 12 piglets per treatment, six males and six females. The four treatments were a negative control, supra-nutritional in-feed zinc oxide, and either 50 or 150 mg/kg of in-water peracetic acid. Performance and postweaning diarrhoea were assessed throughout the study, whereas at day 14, gastrointestinal content samples were collected from all the pigs to allow downstream total bacterial quantification and 16S rRNA sequencing analysis. We found that the BW gain was greater in females compared to males given zinc oxide or peracetic acid. Moreover, apart from sex-specific differences in the microbial composition, we observed that both peracetic acid and zinc oxide led to different microbial modulation in males and females. Indeed, in the stomach, Sarcina, Actinobacillus and unclassified Neisseriaceae were depleted only in males given the high peracetic acid concentration, whilst the same treatment led to the reduction of Moraxella in females. Escherichia-Shigella was reduced after zinc oxide administration, but only in females. Finally, although Lactobacillus was less abundant in males in the caecum, both zinc oxide and peracetic acid led to its increase, but only in males.</p
Construction of pH-responsive nucleic acid delivery system based on amination of BSA and schiff-base for precise pest control
No full textPest RNAi control is essential for sustainable agriculture, and critical single-copy genes like heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) in lepidopterans are ideal targets for new pest control strategies. However, current application technologies struggle to ensure RNAi efficiency, affecting control effectiveness. Herein, we illustrate a nucleic acid delivery system using bovine serum albumin cross-linked with diamine (cBSA) to deliver dsRNA targeting Hsp90 in Spodoptera litura, a major agricultural pest causing significant crop losses. The prepared nucleic acid delivery system (GBSA·NPs) with acid-sensitive bond that easily releases dsRNA inside cells, which cell-based experiments showed an RNAi efficiency increase by 43.59 %. And experiments on individual insects showed that GBSA·NPs delivery nearly tripled RNAi efficiency compared to direct dsRNA treatment. Crucially, safety tests indicated that both the carrier and dsRNA are safe for natural enemies, facilitating precise pest control.</p
Short-term stability over time and across situations of behavioural traits in gestating and lactating sows
Full text linkPersonality consists of the set of traits which show stable individual differences in behaviour over time and across contexts in a species. Personality has been previously studied in pigs, however few studies have focussed on adult females and on both the gestating and lactating phases of their reproductive cycle. The aim of this work was to identify candidate personality traits in breeding females, by assessing temporal stability and associations between situations. Adult female pigs (Sus scrofa) ranging from parity one to seven underwent a series of repeated tests and observations during late gestation (70–110 days after service) and during lactation (1–30 days after farrowing). In gestation, their response to a human in the home pen (n = 55, median 2 repeated tests per individual, ranging from 1 to 4) and social behaviour at feeding (n = 52, median 2 tests, 1–4) were assessed. In lactation their response to a dummy hand (n = 66, median 2 tests, 1–4) and lying down behaviour (n = 68, median 2 tests, 1–6) were recorded as indicators of maternal defence and maternal care. Out of the twelve variables measured in these four different situations, five were consistent over repeated tests at different times (i.e. the posterior distribution of their repeatability excluded values less than 0.01): dominance rank, number of attacks, and number of avoidances during feeding, number of vocalisations when exposed to a dummy hand, and probability of vocalising before lying down. We found correlations with an absolute value higher than 0.30 between number of attacks and number of avoidances during feeding (r = -0.33), number of attacks and number of vocalisations when exposed to the dummy hand (r = -0.52), and between the latter and probability of vocalising before lying down during lactation (r = 0.46). Our results suggest that social behaviour at feeding and acoustic signalling in different contexts are stable traits in adult female pigs. The estimated correlations between the traits might also indicate the presence of a proactive behavioural syndrome
Distress calls as social stressors affecting chicken welfare
Full text linkSocial signals about current environmental risks can shape development in young animals. Distress calls made by young chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) may also encode affective state, with high arousal, potentially ‘anxiety-like’ state characterized by continuous calling, and learned helplessness or potentially ‘depression-like’ state by a more intermittent pattern. During early life (age 4–7 days), we played chicks artificial stimuli mimicking these two call patterns. Growth effects suggest caller affective state can modulate this social signal: chicks exposed to bouts of ‘Continuous’ calls grew faster and were heavier by late commercial life (day 43) than Controls. In contrast, chicks exposed to ‘Intermittent’ calling showed slow, then compensatory, growth. A third experimental treatment with similar ‘noisiness’ to distress calls did not influence growth. Responses to a late-life social isolation trial suggested lasting impacts on stressor perception or resilience. Comb temperature elevation during isolation, indicating acute stress, was greatest in the Continuous group. Call rate decline during isolation, potentially indicating a tendency towards learned helplessness, was steep in all three experimental treatments; hence, noise-related disturbance from vocalizations may also shape development. Distress calls are consequently an important consideration in farms, where young are raised at high density and one individual is heard by many
Scoping review on farmer information sources for animal health
Full text linkLivestock farmers are the central decision makers for control of most endemic diseases, which makes them a vital stakeholder for the effective communication of information created from disease surveillance. We conducted a scoping review of the relevant scientific literature following PRISMA standards to identify the most common information channels or networks through which farmers receive information about animal health or disease. We found 50 articles that met our inclusion criteria (see methods section) by searching the electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science from 1960 – Feb 2025. Most of the articles (n = 34) came from the UK. Most of the studies targeted cattle farmers (n = 31), followed by sheep farmers (n = 19) and pig farmers (n = 10). Farmers were reported to receive information from a wide variety of sources. Veterinarians were reported to be the most important information source (n = 36). Other sources reported to be important were nutritionists and foot trimers (n = 1), other farmers (n = 1), farmer associations and schemes (n = 1) and the farm press (n = 1). Five studies reported that a combination of different sources was the most effective for communicating to farmers. From this study, we can conclude that veterinarians are the primary animal health/disease information source for farmers and should always be included when designing strategies to communicate health/disease related information to farmer. Other information sources are less important but should be included when communication is intended to reach as many farmers as possible
Increasing ewe productivity - challenges of sheep stakeholders across Europe and Turkey
No full textImproving ewe reproductive success and lamb survivability is essential for enhancing flock productivity, farm profitability, and the self-sufficiency of sheep meat and milk production. This study aimed to identify the perceived challenges to improving ewe productivity, through efficient reproduction, gestation, and reducing lamb mortality and determine if these challenges differ between countries. A 22-question survey (14 closed, 8 open-ended) was conducted in 2017 across seven countries participating in the SheepNet project (France, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Spain, UK, and Turkey). A number of press releases were circulated in each of the seven SheepNet countries making stakeholders aware of the survey and asking them to identify their challenges to improving ewe productivity through efficient reproduction, gestation and reduced lamb mortality. The surveys were completed by stakeholders either on the website, by e-mail or written mail or during sheep stakeholder events. Key challenges to improving ewe fertility included ewe body condition, nutrition and grassland management, flock health, and ewe lamb management. Reducing lamb mortality was primarily hindered by challenges related to lambing preparation, shed management, nutrition, labour, and hygiene. The findings suggest that despite diverse production systems, common challenges exist across Europe and Turkey. Addressing these challenges through the dissemination of best management practices can significantly enhance flock productivity. This study provides valuable insights into shared farmer experiences and underscores the importance of knowledge exchange across regions.</p
Implication of “smart” ear-tags material, shape, weight, and placement on calves’ ear injury and position
Full text linkIn recent years, technology advancements and miniaturisation of sensors have made it possible to develop management systems mounted on ear-tags but the development of these systems has not focussed specifically on younger calves, and has rarely documented the impact of device shape, size, and material on calf ear injury and position. The current paper documents the steps taken to develop a “smart” ear-tag, reporting these impacts. To achieve this, a series of bench tests (phase 1), expert assessments and four animal experiments were conducted. Selected from phase 1, five shapes were tested in phase 2 on five calves, and suitability for the intended purpose assessed, alongside maximum tag weight (8 calves) and anatomical placement of the tag (6 calves). Finally, a longer-term assessment was conducted using the best prototype attached to 14 calves (phase 3). The optimum tag was a 20 g coin-cell shaped female receiver tag, made of polycarbonate-acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC-ABS) and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) mixed material, placed in the inner third of the ear, between the two auricular ridges. This specific shape and weight presented minimal ear-droop and the highest retention rate