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Not Available ; Public risk perception indicates the way people respond to the hazards including climate catastrophes. Public opinion largely shapes the policy formulations by the governments. The present study was conducted in Ganjam district of Odisha to gauze the awareness and perception of farmers regarding climate change which is already manifesting itself in the region. The study indicated that reasonably good percentage (65.17%) of farmers heard the term 'climate change'. However, they hardly understand the proper meaning of climate change. Around 41% of the farmers didn't have any idea about what causes climate change. However, farmers had unanimous feeling that the climate is changing. They perceived that intensities of day and night temperature, rainfall, humidity, cold and heat waves and frequency of cyclones has changed over the years. Majority of the farmers experienced that the cropping season and sowing time had been delayed because of late onset of monsoon. Farmers may be encouraged to rear livestock as a measure of occupation diversification to lessen the risk in times of climatic adversity. It is required to organize awareness camps for educating the farmers and general mass about the seriousness of threat level of climate change and the mitigation/adaptation options. Extension functionaries should impress upon the farmers to have more social participation. ; Not Available

SummaryThis paper examines the trends in utilization of five indicators of reproductive and child health services, namely, childhood immunization, medical assistance at delivery, antenatal care, contraceptive use and unmet need for contraception, by wealth index of the household in India and two disparate states, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The data from three rounds of the National Family and Health Survey conducted during 1992–2005 are analysed. The wealth index is computed using principal component derived weights from a set of consumer durables, land size, housing quality and water and sanitation facilities of the household, and classified into quintiles for all three rounds. Bivariate analyses, rich–poor ratio and concentration index are used to understand the trends in utilization of, and inequality in, reproductive and child health services. The results indicate huge disparities in utilization of these services, largely to the disadvantage of the poor. Utilization of basic childhood immunization among the poorest and the poor stagnated in India, as well as in both states, during 1998–2005 compared with 1992–1998. The use of maternal care services such as medical assistance at delivery and antenatal care remained at a low level among the poor over this period. However, contraceptive use increased relatively faster among the poor, even with higher unmet need. Of all these services, the inequality in medical assistance at delivery is consistently large, while that of contraceptive use is small. The state-level differences in service coverage by wealth quintiles over time are large.

The seed value chain analysis study on rice and potato was conducted during August to December 2019 to assess the composition, distinctiveness, strengths and weaknesses of Vietnam's seed sector. The study examines relevant secondary sources of information and primary data obtained through field surveys using focus group discussion and key informant interviews in four provinces, namely: Bac Ninh and Thai Binh in the north; Quang Binh in the center and Can Tho in the south. The study results indicate that Vietnam has developed a robust seed sector with the involvement of diverse stakeholders throughout the seed value chain of rice and potato. The seed sector has contributed significantly to the success of Vietnam crop production over the past three decades. However, the existing seed sector has also shown many weak areas that need to be addressed for growth of crop production with increased efficiency, innovation, diversification and value addition. To support this goal, the study suggests several interventions and technological improvements in crop breeding, seed production and seed use especially for inbred rice, hybrid rice and potato. The study also proposes a detailed survey and analysis of Vietnam seed legislation to help make the seed sector more dynamic.

AbstractThis paper is primarily aimed at encouraging further use of neural networks by the water‐ and wastewater treatment industry. The study demonstrates the principle of using a network method of simulating the performance of a biological activated‐carbon filter based on a biological water‐quality assessment and measurements of pH and dissolved oxygen during the bio‐regeneration mode with untreated river water. Protozoa, worms, rotifers, bacteria, fungi and algae were used as biological parameters. The neural network model could reasonably estimate the chemical oxygen demand reduction in an exhausted filter. The neural network model gave much better results than a second‐order polynomial regression model; however, a much larger database is required than is currently available.

Rapid income growth and urbanisation could significantly change the composition of the food basket in many emerging economies. This study estimates a demand system, including 15 major food items in Vietnam, with multiyear household survey data. We find a large variation in the estimated price elasticities (-0.05 to -0.88) and expenditure elasticities (-0.16 to 2.56). Food types, urban status and income groups can explain this variation. We also find that the staple food, rice, is already an inferior good for rich urban households in Vietnam. Moreover, food preferences are evolving away from rice but towards animal proteins (fish, pork, chicken, eggs and milk), fruits and vegetables, irrespective of urban status and income groups. As the Vietnam economy continues to grow with a doubling of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next decade, per capita rice consumption in both urban and rural areas and across different income groups will continue to decline, whereas demand for other high-value products will rise. Thus, government policy should focus on encouraging demand-oriented food production. In addition, crop diversification at the farm level needs to improve substantially to meet the rising demand for these food products due to income growth and urbanisation. ; Peer Review

The rainfed rice-growing environment is perhaps one of the most vulnerable to water stress such as drought and floods. It is important to determine the spatial extent of the stress-prone areas to effectively and efficiently promote proper technologies (e.g., stress-tolerant varieties) to tackle the problem of sustainable food production. This study was conducted in Odisha state located in eastern India. Odisha is predominantly a rainfed rice ecosystem (71% rainfed and 29% canal irrigated during kharif-monsoon season), where rice is the major crop and staple food of the people. However, rice productivity in Odisha is one of the lowest in India and a significant decline (9%) in rice cultivated area was observed in 2002 (a drought year). The present study analyzed the temporal rice cropping pattern in various ecosystems and identified the stress-prone areas due to submergence (flooding) and water shortage. The spatial distribution of rice areas was mapped using MODIS (MOD09Q1) 250-m 8-day time-series data (2000?2010) and spectral matching techniques. The mapped rice areas were strongly correlated (R2 = 90%) with district-level statistics. Also the class accuracy based on field-plot data was 84.8%. The area under the rainfed rice ecosystem continues to dominate, recording the largest share among rice classes across all the years. The use of remote-sensing techniques is rapid, cost-effective, and reliable to monitor changes in rice cultivated area over long periods of time and estimate the reduction in area cultivated due to abiotic stress such as water stress and submergence. Agricultural research institutes and line departments in the government can use these techniques for better planning, regular monitoring of land-use changes, and dissemination of appropriate technologies.