Insect pests in storage are causes of major losses worldwide. Acoustic sensors can detect the presence of insects in grain through their sound signature, thus enabling early warning to farmers and traders. This research investigates the applicability of an affordable acoustic sensor, which uses micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone adapted to detect the sound produced by insect pests. Three major insect pests that commonly feed on paddy and milled rice (the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica; the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae; and the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum), were collected in rice mills and grain storage warehouses in Laguna The Philippines, and reared at the International Rice Research Institute. Baseline sound recordings were replicated for each insect over three days using a completely randomized design (CRD). Recorded sounds were analysed to determine the sound profiles of each insect. Waveforms, root mean square (RMS) energy values, frequency domain, and spectrograms provided characteristics for the sound signal signature specific to each insect. Primary insect pests (R. dominica and S. oryzae) were differentiated from the secondary insect pest (T. castaneum) through signal analyses. Such data are useful to enable insect pest classification, which can be incorporated into more effective and timely postharvest pest management tools.

The relationship between agricultural commercialisation and nutrition is empirically contested, with findings suggesting different trends for different indicators, and across different contexts. Using novel cross-sectional survey data from a study of commercialisation in four African countries, this paper aims to understand associations and trade-offs between agricultural commercialisation and food consumption using three different indicators: household perceptions of their own food security; the dietary diversity of adult women and men; and the consumption of unhealthy ultra-processed foods and drinks. We find that a higher level of commercialisation is associated with respondents perceiving the household as more food secure in three countries and hypothesise that this relationship only holds where food price inflation remains low. Perception of better food security is subsequently associated with better reported dietary diversity, but diversity remains low in all countries even in the most commercialised households, and men’s dietary diversity overtakes women’s, on average, at higher levels of commercialisation. Ultra-processed foods were not highly consumed in our samples but were also linked with increasing commercialisation. Through this analysis, we show that commercialization and food consumption outcomes are linked in both positive and negative ways – and that both, retaining own food production, and the food market context, plays a moderating role, as does household experience of uncertainty in transition to commercial agriculture. Findings for policy in the context of inevitable but highly varied forms of agricultural commercialisation in Africa therefore include ensuring that diverse nutritious foods are available and affordable in local markets, but also that household food security and diets are socially supported through the process of transition where commercialisation is pursued.

We studied the causal link between forage condition and food security in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia and probed the mechanisms through which the effects occur. The study utilized weekly panel survey data collected over a period of 94 weeks (March 2021–December 2022) from drought-prone pastoral regions and estimated two-stage least squares instrumental variables regression to assess causal impacts. We found that an increase in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) – our proxy for forage condition – by 10% significantly reduced the likelihood of a household experiencing food insecurity by 12 percentage points. The main mechanisms through which improved forage condition increased food security were livestock productivity enhancement, reduced prices of basic food commodities (cereals, legumes, and vegetables), and utilization of better coping strategies by households. These findings suggest the need for interventions and initiatives aimed at boosting livestock productivity and reducing vulnerability to drought-induced poor forage conditions. Efforts focused on the monitoring of forage conditions and supporting market development for livestock feed are important for addressing the adverse impacts of drought and deteriorating forage conditions in the horn of Africa. Furthermore, the monitoring of drought conditions and shocks using high-frequency data has the potential for providing early warning and informing anticipatory action.

Food insecurity is a pressing issue facing our world, particularly affecting coastal communities who rely on marine resources. The problem is further compounded by the rapidly changing climate, a deteriorating environment and growing human populations. It is essential to evaluate this issue accurately to reduce risk and improve the situation of coastal communities, especially in countries with less socioeconomic development. To this end, we develop a food security social-ecological risk assessment framework for developing communities in coastal areas of the Western Indian Ocean facing a changing environment. The framework integrates local ecological knowledge, expert scientific opinion, survey data, and satellite sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a observation. We conducted a local-scale case study in four regions in Tanzania; Mafia, Pemba, Tanga, and Unguja, revealing that they face moderate to high risk levels of food insecurity. The highest risk was observed in the island communities of Pemba and Unguja, while the communities of Mafia and Tanga had the lowest risk due to lower exposure and sensitivity to climate change. Our results show that recognizing the key differences across risk components is crucial in identifying effective intervention strategies for local practitioners. This study highlights the need for detailed assessments to provide accurate information on local-scale food security dynamics, specifically when assessing impacts induced by environmental and climatic changes.

This article looks into the daily food shopping practices of poor urban households in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A practice theory-based approach is used to explore their coping strategies in response to food safety concerns. By applying an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach, two groups of shoppers are compared: recently arrived migrants and established residents, as recently arrived migrants are expected to face an unfamiliar food shopping environment and therefore need to reconsider their daily food shopping practices. The results describe the elements of food shopping practices: food items, retail outlets, affordability, social networks, and relations to work. We identified the absence of freshness, undesirable substances, and the need for more information about the production process as the primary food safety concerns. Among both shopper groups, the harmful consequence of applying the chemical 'formalin' to food is considered the most prominent food safety concern. Major coping strategies include identifying (un)safe food, proactive selection, and establishing and maintaining social relationships. The two groups have similarities and differences in using skills and competencies to mitigate their food safety concerns in everyday shopping practices. Recently arrived migrants have to adapt to urban lifestyles and reconfigure their food safety concerns into their daily food shopping practices.