THE latest issue of the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD), an international journal published by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), has seven new studies and a book review on global food prices, sustainable food system, food security, value chain, income diversification, and hunger and poverty.
One of paper is titled "Unveiling Socioeconomic Factors Shaping Global Food Prices and Security: A Machine Learning Approach" where Prof. Shan Shan of Zhejiang University in China said that harnessing machine learning techniques and understanding socioeconomic variables are necessary "to help policymakers make informed decisions on improving global food prices and security."
In an article titled "Developing a Framework for Edible Flower Conservation in the Mekong Region," researchers from Thailand, China, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam developed a framework for conservation strategies of edible flowers. This collaboration by Pongsakorn Suppakittpaisarna of Thailand's Chiang Mai University and his co-authors centers on community engagement to balance cultural heritage preservation with environmental sustainability to safeguard Mekong's unique botanical and cultural identity.
A paper titled "Antioxidant Dietary Fiber from the Bran of Five Philippine Pigmented Rice Varieties" states that all the bran samples from five Philippine pigmented rice varieties are potential sources of antioxidants, which are beneficial for health. In the study, Prof. Jennifer Fronteras and her co-authors found that the Calatrava rice variety showed the highest total dietary fiber, including the highest antioxidant property that can be potentially used as nutraceuticals or a source of nutritious food.
In another paper titled "Assessing Handling Practices and Loss Factors in the Pineapple Value Chain in Camarines Norte, Philippines," Arjay Gerance of Thailand's Kasetsart University and L'Institut Agro Montpellier in France, and his co-authors showed critical loss points at various stages of the pineapple value chain from preharvesting to postharvesting. They said government intervention will improve standardization and regulatory practices which include preharvest treatments, improving infrastructure and road networks, and market access.
Meanwhile, the paper titled "Effects of Farm Income Diversification and Labor Out-Migration on Rice Household Productivity in Indonesia," the authors called for interventions that would increase farm productivity in the face of lower labor use on the farms. In this study, Prof. Masako Morioka of Obihiro University, Japan, and her co-authors showed that farmers' income from outside of agriculture did not compensate for the loss that impacted agricultural productivity because of the labor shift.
For its part, the paper by Mahar Mangahas, chairman emeritus of the Social Weather Station (SWS), and his co-author Christine Belle Torres, titled "The SWS Surveys of Philippine Hunger, 1998–2024" showed that hunger has been volatile for decades and there is no long-term decline in rates. The authors provide a peek at the great wealth of information available to the public from the SWS series of scientific national surveys about human well-being in general, not only hunger. The paper also included related topics on poverty, food poverty, poverty thresholds and food poverty thresholds.
Lastly, a book review by Prof. Julieta Delos Reyes of the University of the Philippines Los Baños finds "Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health" helpful in simplifying complex economic theories. Delos Reyes recommends the book for those averse to numbers but want to fully understand economic concepts related to everyday choices.
AJAD welcomes articles all year round through https://ajad.searca.org. It publishes articles resulting from empirical, policy-oriented or institutional development studies, as well as articles of perspectives on agriculture and development, political economy of rural development and trade issues.
All the new and past papers published in AJAD are available from the same site for free, while print copies are also available through subscription.
Cielito Habito, professor of economics at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, leads the editorial board.
Habito is a former Cabinet member of the Philippine government, having served as socioeconomic planning secretary and director general of the National Economic and Development Authority.