Sustainable Development Goal 2

• SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DJI, the world's leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, has joined the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in celebrating the 43rd World Food Day.
• I appreciate the efforts of all the participants in the World Food Day Pro Bono Lighting Campaign in China.
• "We are honored to support the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's World Food Day," said Christina Zhang, Senior Corporate Strategy Director of DJI.
• We are delighted to announce that the inaugural light show of the DJI Firefly project is dedicated to celebrating World Food Day.

• SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan, Sept. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The government of Uzbekistan is hosting an International Conference on Food Security on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 September, with technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
• "Today, the whole world is facing the problems of land degradation and water scarcity, a pandemic and an unstable geopolitical situation.
• Against the background of these challenges, the issue of food security is becoming more acute."
• Viorel Gutu, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia, said:
  "The upcoming conference will contribute to the further development of cooperation between FAO and Uzbekistan.

• Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances Market in India 2023-2027: Market Dynamics
  Growth in government initiatives for electronic products is a key factor driving the growth of the consumer electronics and home appliances market in India.
• Data security issues associated with smart consumer electronics and home appliances are one of the major challenges for the consumer electronics and home appliances market in India.
• Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances Market in India 2023-2027: Key Highlights
  The consumer electronics market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.85% between 2022 and 2027.
• The frequent product launches are driving growth in the personal consumer electronics market during the forecast period.

• To meet the demand of the rapidly growing African population, there is widespread consensus that farmers need to boost cereal crop yields.
• This is because African farmers struggle to access affordable mineral fertilisers, while a lack of biomass also places organic fertilisers out of reach.

The precious nutrients in green manure

• Although they are crucial for improving cereal crop yields, they can nevertheless harm the environment if used in excess, and are often too expensive for farmers.
• The war in Ukraine has only worsened the region’s fertiliser shortage, though prices have stabilised since their peak in 2022.
• Through symbiotic bacteria, these plants have the unique ability to fix nitrogen present in the atmosphere to their tissues.

Fertilizers, climate and rice growth in Madagascar

• In a recent study, we looked at the possibility of boosting the yields of a rain-fed rice fields in Madagascar by replacing some of the mineral fertilizers with green manure.
• Both the saturation of the floodplains used for irrigated rice and the emergence of upland rice varieties have led many farmers to take up rain-fed rice cultivation in Madagascar’s highlands.

Mucuna and Crotalaria

• CIRAD, provided by the author In our experiment, the green manure grown was a combination of “Mucuna” and “Crotalaria” legumes.
• Thanks to their complementary growth and above-ground structures, these two plants can produce a large quantity of plant biomass and thereby fix atmospheric nitrogen.

A promising model

• We achieved this with 40 kg/ha of nitrogen provided by mineral fertilizers when green manure was added to the soil.
• By way of comparison, more than double this quantity or 100 kg/ha, was necessary without the use of green manure.

Trade-offs to be made

• First, and as previously noted, heavy rainfall will dampen the benefits of green manure on rice productivity.
• To tackle this, farmers will have to dynamically manage residues and fertilisers and tailor them to individual crops.
• Next, the gains linked to the use green manure do not entirely offset the losses resulting from its cultivation.

Dual purpose legumes

• The model that we have calibrated can help to make this type of assessment in silico.
• Likewise, farmers needn’t have to make the choice between food security and fertilisers.
• Certain pulse crops, such as groundnuts, can be both used as green manure and sustenance for farmers.