The role of land as the central piece to sustainable food systems:Lessons learned from Portugal national food-related policies

This paper discusses to what extent land is considered in food-related policies from a systemic perspective.Based on existing literature and international agendas priorities,we argue that access to and preservation of land for food along the food chain play a major role in sustainable food systems.To further explore this argument,we address the following question:Where does land stand in sectorial and national food-related policies?The mul-tiple dimensions and implications of food systems and the international agenda’s priorities namely the“Right to adequate Food”,“Food Sovereignty”and the“Right to Land”,were used as our conceptual framework.To work out how land is being considered in food sectorial policies,both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to examine ten Portuguese national food-related policies.Results are showing a lack of consideration for land access and land preservation,needed all along the food chain to build a national sustainable food system.On the other hand,there is a gap between current grassroots priorities international agendas and food-related national policies.Such a situation strongly suggests that building a sustainable food system needs a clear food territorial perspective,still neglected,and shifting from sectorial policies towards a more integrated food system approach,that will include land as a central piece.

Land use planning, sustainable food production and rural development: A literature analysis

In many countries agricultural land is a scarce resource, either due to natural conditions or because of competition over land. An increased need for food globally, changing environmental conditions and increased demand for environmentally sound agriculture and food systems, all require better integration of planning for rural land use and food production. A literature analysis was conducted including coding of 76 papers, to answer the question on how and to what extent, literature addresses the integration of land use policy and planning, and food system planning, in the context of sustainable rural development and agri-food production. The results indicate that land use and food system planning co-occur in literature, yet lacking the perspective of sustainable rural development, suggesting that integrated planning for sustainable rural land use and food systems needs to be strengthened. Food system research has largely focused on availability and access, or what can be associated with consumers, rather than rural land use. Likewise, the inclusion of food systems is neither common in rural land use planning nor in agricultural policies. Holistic planning for a sustainable food system may be suffering from a disjointed approach, e.g., planning for farmland may not have any links to planning for accessibility, consumer preferences or food marketing. Increased cooperation between stakeholders is necessary to break down the silos in the food system. Policies and plans for rural land use and agri-food production should be coordinated for the common goal of sustainability.

How Could Agricultural Land Systems Contribute to Raise Food Production Under Global Change?

To feed the increasing world population, more food needs to be produced from agricultural land systems. Solutions to produce more food with fewer resources while minimizing adverse environmental and ecological consequences require sustainable agricultural land use practices as supplementary to advanced biotechnology and agronomy. This review paper, from a land system perspective, systematically proposed and analyzed three interactive strategies that could possibly raise future food production under global change. By reviewing the current literatures, we suggest that cropland expansion is less possible amid iferce land competition, and it is likely to do less in increasing food production. Moreover, properly allocating crops in space and time is a practical way to ensure food production. Climate change, dietary shifts, and other socio-economic drivers, which would shape the demand and supply side of food systems, should be taken into consideration during the decision-making on rational land management in respect of sustainable crop choice and allocation. And ifnally, crop-speciifc agricultural intensiifcation would play a bigger role in raising future food production either by increasing the yield per unit area of individual crops or by increasing the number of crops sown on a particular area of land. Yet, only when it is done sustainably is this a much more effective strategy to maximize food production by closing yield and harvest gaps.

Change of Cultivated Land and Its Implications on Food Security in China

The population growth and demand for high living standard not only increase food demand but also cause more loss of the limited cultivated land resources. Cultivated land loss caused by disasters and the implementation of the ＂Conversion of Cropland to Forest or Grassland＂ project make this situation even worse in China. Thus, there is a problem to be solved imminently that to what extent the cultivated land can guarantee food security of China. Based on time-series data on food production and cultivated land area from 1989 to 2003 and other research results, this paper constructs quality index of cultivated land according to different land quality. Regression models are adopted to predicate changes of main factors from 2004 to 2030, which have great effect on cultivated land area or grain productivity, and verify accuracy with coc^cient of determination （R2）. Nine results were got according to three scenarios of decreasing rate of population growth rate and three cases of urban and rural built-up area per capita. There results show that China＇s food supply can only be maintained at a low to middle level of 370-410kg per capita, that is, China has enough land productivity to meet primary demand of food independently. However, it cannot reach the safe target of 500kg per capita if there is no breakthrough in breeding or no remarkable improvement of irrigation works, when the grain self-sufficiency maintains no less than 80%. To breed productive crops and to improve land productivity by mefiorating low quality cultivated land are appropriate measures to shrink the gap between food demand and supply. The results may offer helpful information for the formulation of policies on population growth, land use, protection of cultivated land.

Developing the Agro-Grassland System to Insure Food Security of China

China’s food security has always been the top priority in China. As the huge increase of animal food consumption, the current agriculture system in China namely “grain farming”, whose major animal feed are grains, seems to meet a great challenge to ensure China’s food security in the future. Not only the current situation, but also the production capacity as developing grassland agriculture is analyzed in this paper. The results show that half of provinces don’t have enough grain to meet their various needs for grain, and the whole country’s potential of grain yield is reaching a limited position. On the other hand, implementing cereal-forage rotation on 20% of the total arable land and developing high productivity sown pastures on 3% of the total rangeland areas could create approximately 1.2 times Arable Land Equivalent Unit (ALEU) than ever. So changing the traditional agriculture system into Grassland Agro-Ecosystems is an effective way to insure China’s food security. It includes utilization of rangeland rationally, establishment of more sown pasture and implementation of cereal-pasture rotation system, increase livestock production, and use of arable land more efficiently.

Study on the Sustainable Use of Land-water Resources in Shandong Province of China Based on Food Security

After the analysis of food security of Shandong Province since 1990s, based on the change of grain output and per unit grain yield, it was considered that food production of Shandong Province was generally stable; through comparing the proportion of per capita possession of grains and per unit grain yield of Shandong Province in the whole country, it revealed that they were higher than the national average level. On this basis, the relationship between land-water resources and food security had been analyzed, and it summarized that Shandong water resources were insufficient, agricultural water was not enough and water had been seriously polluted; and that cultivated area was large and the overall quality was high. Meanwhile, it had analyzed the spatial pattern of land-water resources and the loss of water and soil. Finally, suggestions for the sustainable use of land-water resources in Shandong Province based on food security had been proposed. It should enhance the construction of basic agricultural facilities and implement united dispatching of multiple water resources; strengthen the supervision of cultivated land resources and comprehensively develop reserve resources of cultivated lands; and intensify the treatment of land-water resources and prevention of the loss of water and soil in key areas.

Polydatin attenuated food allergy via store-operated calcium channels in mast cell

AIM: To investigate the effect of polydatin (PD), a resveratrol glucoside, on mast cell degranulation and antiallergic activity. METHODS: After the rats were orally sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) for 48 d and underwent PD treatment for 4 d, all the rats were stimulated by 100 mg/mL OVA for24 h and then sacrificed for the following experiments. The small intestines from all the groups were prepared for morphology examination by hematoxylin and eosin staining. We also used a smooth muscle organ bath to evaluate the motility of the small intestines. The OVA-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) production and interleu-kin-4 (IL-4) levels in serum or supernatant of intestinal mucosa homogenates were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Using toluidine blue stain, the activation and degranulation of isolated rat peritoneal mast cells (RPMCs) were analyzed. Release of histamine from RPMCs was measured by ELISA, and regulation of PD on intracellular Ca 2+ mobilization was investigated by probing intracellular Ca 2+ with fluo-4 fluo-rescent dye, with the signal recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: We found that intragastric treatment with PD significantly reduced loss of mucosal barrier integrity in the small intestine. However, OVA-sensitization caused significant hyperactivity in the small intestine of allergic rats, which was attenuated by PD administration by 42% (1.26 ± 0.13 g vs OVA 2.18 ± 0.21 g, P < 0.01). PD therapy also inhibited IgE production (3.95 ± 0.53 ng/mL vs OVA 4.53 ± 0.52 ng/mL, P < 0.05) by suppressing the secretion of Th2-type cytokine, IL-4, by 34% (38.58 ± 4.41 pg/mLvs OVA 58.15 ± 6.24 pg/mL, P < 0.01). The ratio of degranulated mast cells, as indicated by vehicles (at least five) around the cells, dramatically increased in the OVA group by 5.5 fold (63.50% ± 15.51% vs phosphate-buffered saline 11.15% ± 8.26%, P < 0.001) and fell by 65% after PD treatment (21.95% ± 4.37% vs OVA 63.50% ± 15.51%, P < 0.001). PD mediated attenuation of mast cell degranulation was further confirmed by decreased histamine levels in both serum (5.98 ± 0.17 vs OVA 6.67 ± 0.12, P < 0.05) and intestinal mucosa homogenates (5.83 ± 0.91 vs OVA 7.35 ± 0.97, P < 0.05). Furthermore, we demonstrated that administration with PD significantly decreased mast cell degranulation due to reduced Ca 2+ influx through store-operated calcium channels (SOCs) (2.35 ± 0.39vs OVA 3.51 ± 0.38,P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: Taken together, our data indicate that PD stabilizes mast cells by suppressing intracellular Ca 2+ mobilization, mainly through inhibiting Ca 2+ entry via SOCs, thus exerting a protective role against OVA-sensitized food allergy.

Strengthen Farmland Quality Construction and Build a Strong Foundation for Food Security

As a carrier for food production, protection of arable land quantity and quality is the basis of quality and high yield agriculture. In recent years, with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, arable land red line is at risk, and the quality of arable land has been declining, which are not conducive to the sustainable development of agriculture, but also threaten ＂the food problem＂ of the country＇s 1.3 billion people. This paper attempts to analyze the current situation of arable farmland quality, reasons for the arable farmland quality decline and its impact on food security in China, and explore effective measures to improve the quality of cultivated land.

Soil Database Management Software Development for Optimizing Land Resource Information Utilization to Support National Food Security

Since land resource database development in 1987/1988, a large amount of digital data in spatial, tabular and metadata format has been collected and generated. There are some application softwares of soil database to manage such a large amount of data, i.e.: Side & Horizon (SHDE4), Soil Sample Analysis (SSA), and Land Unit in dbf file, while Site and Horizon is in DataEase formats. The database contains soil physics and chemical property data of each soil horizon from surface to effective soil depth, climate, land surface condi- tions, and other parameters required for soil classification. Currently, database management software for land resources is still based on DOS and is stand alone. The system is not efficient and effectively used as Agri- cultural Land Resource Information System. At present, as a key component of this system requires review and development of new database software is compatible with the development of information technology. This paper explains about development of interactive agricultural land resources information system for op- timizing land resources data utilization. Hopefully, the software can give contributions in national Agricul- tural Land Resources System Information development for supporting food security.

Investigation of Climate and Land Use Policy Change Impacts on Food Security in Eastern Sudan, Gadarif State

The aims of this research were to investigate the impacts of climate variations on land use policies, food security and vegetation cover in Gadarif State (eastern Sudan) during 1961 to 2013. Analysis of precipitation and temperature time series revealed that the annual precipitation was decreasing while the temperature was increased in the study area. Precipitation was decreasing at a rate of &minus;50.3 mm/10a, while the temperature was increasing at a rate of 0.02°C/10a. The result of both SPEI and SPI showed that the Gadarif State has been changed to a high frequency of drought during 1961-2013. Sorghum yield showed a significant positive relationship with precipitation during July and October (CC = 0.364 and 0.321, respectively), moreover, a significant positive relationship between Sesame yield and precipitation was observed during July (CC = 0.335). A significant negative relationship between Sorghum yield and mean temperature was observed during the rainy season (July to October) with CC = &minus;0.278. The yield productivity of Sorghum and Sesame had decreased significantly (from more than 800 kg/ha in the 1960s to less than 200 kg/ha in 2000s for Sorghum, while 500 kg/ha in 1960s to 100 kg/ha in 2000s for Sesame). The Mechanized Rain-fed Agriculture (MRA) area of Sorghum and Sesame in the Gadarif State had been increased from 1,058,241 ha to 2,799,655 ha during 1961 to 2013. Thus, we ultimately suggest that in the Gadarif State, policy makers must strive for an increase in yield per unit area by using sufficient fertilizers along with the gradual increment in tendencies of grain production through expansion of the cultivated area.

Spatial Pressure Distribution of Cultivated Land and the Analysis of Food Safety in Kunming City,China

The social and economical condition,cultivated land resources and general situation of grain production of research area are introduced.According to relevant data of cultivated land of Kunming City in 2006,taking the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure,and combining with two conditions of per capita grain demand which are 300 kg and 400 kg,the comparative research method was used to calculate and analyze the minimum per capita cultivated land and index model of cultivated land pressure.The results show that when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg,the per capita cultivated land in Kunming City has regional differences,reflects different regular patterns of spatial distribution,and presents obvious and typical radial distribution.Urban area of Kunming has the lowest point and be taken as the center,per capita cultivated land decreases progressively from suburban to the periphery;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 400 kg,under the same consumption level,cultivated land pressures of each county in Kunming City are different,and so are the driven factors;when per capita grain demand-Gr is 300 kg or 400 kg,the indexes of cultivated land pressure in Kunming are all greater than 1,cultivated land pressure is enormous,the indexes of cultivated land pressure of each county(district) have two conditions-greater than 1 and less than 2,and the reasons differ from one another.Combining with the spatial distribution characteristics of the cultivated land and food and the situation of industrial development,the countermeasures and suggestions are put forwarded to make full use of back-up cultivated land,to plan the distribution of industrial structure in each county(district) of Kunming City as a whole,to dispose cultivated land resources reasonably and so on.

Land Suitability Assessment and Landuse Planning： A Prerequisite for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation

Though Ghana＇s crop yield growth rate was at 17%, 5% of every 1.2 million Ghanaians have insufficient and limited access to nutritious food. Climate change and climate variability have enormously affected the state of agricultural productivity and hence could result in food insecurity. As many ongoing projects use Boolean suitability analysis, land use planning, management recommendations sores, it still remains inadequate to support rural resource poor farmers. This then, is affecting livelihood and agricultural productivity. In this paper, a geostatistical quantitative method to support a geographic information system （GIS） based on multi-criteria decision support system （GMCDSS） for an enhanced land suitability assessment （LSA） and landuse planning （LP） was devised. Project findings indicated that, recommended farm inputs could be estimated and applied accordingly at farm plot levels Soil amendment indicators （e.g., 1.0 t/ha lime ＋ 1.0 t/ha gypsum was estimated for liming） was quantified and currently, farmers can save money in soil fertility management. It has shown that, instead of applying 5.0 t/ha poultry manure （PM） or five bags of N-P-K fertilizer （rate of 15： 15： 15 N-P2O5-K2O/ha） ＋ two bags of sulphate of ammonia （SA）, a farmer may apply 2.0 t/ha PM ＋ two bags 15：15：15 N-P2O5-K2O/ha ＋ one bag of SA. GMCDSS assessment has proved to be fundamental in： （1） urban planning; （2） ensuring food security; （3） poverty reduction and interventions to the effects of climate change and climate variability.

The Impact of Rural Women＇s Land Rights on Food Production in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana

The poor performance of the agricultural sector as reflected in high prices of food stuffs as well as huge importation of food has been a major concern to many governments in Africa. Agriculture remains the backbone of Ghana＇s economy and women who constitute about 70% to 80% of farm labour face discrimination in terms of means of production such as land. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of women＇s land rights on food production in the Brong-Ahafo region which is Ghana＇s food basket. Several land reforms have been instituted to ensure equitable access to land in order to enhance food production, yet the study reveals that many women have limited or no access to land and experience insecurity of tenure, which affects their farming methods, choice of crops grown, and production levels, consequently, resulting in low incomes and poverty. Relevant Primary Rate Access （RPRA） tools were used to gather data. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics using Statistic Package for Social Science （SPSS） and Microsoft soRwares and presented into percentages, tabulation, and graphics. The research also revealed that the lack of awareness and education on land reforms and policies coupled with escalating land prices and complicated land transaction method are the major challenges to women＇s access and security over land. The study recommends the decentralization of the land title registration process, gender mainstreaming in the land title registration process, and intensification of advocacy on land rights, among others as crucial to improve women＇s access, control, and security over land for agricultural purposes

Dryland Pastoralism Climate Landscape and Food Security in the Suam River Basin of Kenya

River basins in the drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa have traditionally been utilized for pastoral livelihoods under communal land tenure. Communities in West Pokot in Kenya have continued to experience increased precipitation and temperature as a result of climate variability and change. This study aimed at assessing the impact of climate variability and change at micro-basin level in order to address research and policy gaps on climate change and food security as policy arena shifts from centralized to decentralized governance in Kenya. Primary quantitative data was collected from 387 households’ perceptions of climate variability and change and its implications on food security were measured. Food security index score was calculated. The annual rainfall trend over Suam river basin for the period (1981-2020), was characterized by a linearly increasing annual rainfall trend. Mann Kendall test Z-statistics and Tau were at 2.3578 and 0.0720 respectively. The basin experienced the highest rainfall variability during the first decade (1981-1990) with the highest coefficient of rainfall variation noted at 11.5%. The highest temperature was recorded in the third decade (2001-2010) and fourth decade (2011-2020) at 27.0 and 28.2 degrees Celsius respectively. However, the overall index score for food security was 55.78 with food availability scoring the highest index, mean (SD) of 63.41 (36.52). This was attributed to households’ practice of both nomadic pastoralism and agro-pastoralism activities. Climate variability and change, have resulted in increased amount of rainfall received providing for opportunity investment in rain water harvesting to support both pastoralism and agro-pastoralism production to enhance food security.

粮食安全视域下耕地生态补偿的法治化进路研究

耕地生态补偿的法治化契合了粮食安全和生态文明法治保障体系建设的内在要求。我国尚未制定耕地生态补偿专门性法律法规,《耕地保护法(草案)》对于耕地保护补偿制度的设计还存在诸多疏漏,未对耕地生态补偿制度予以明晰表达。为推动耕地保护,进而保障粮食安全及可持续发展,需要着眼于耕地生态补偿制度建构的权利基础,证成耕地生态补偿制度构造的正当性,厘定耕地生态补偿制度的属性特质,进而着眼于补偿请求权主体、补偿标准、补偿方式、补偿监督等多维度,对耕地生态补偿予以法治构造。

高标准农田建设能遏制耕地“非粮化”吗?

把高标准农田建设作为一项准自然实验,构建连续型双重差分模型,基于省级面板数据考察高标准农田建设对耕地“非粮化”的影响及作用机制。研究发现:相较于控制组,高标准农田建设使实验组耕地“非粮化”程度下降了3.64%,表明高标准农田建设对耕地“非粮化”具有显著且持续强化的抑制效应,经过模型适用性和多重稳健性检验后结果依然可信;该政策效应因区域粮食功能定位、粮食熟制、粮食作物种类和地形条件不同而表现出明显差异,粮食主产区、高熟制地区、水稻主种植区和非平原地区高标准农田建设对耕地“非粮化”的抑制效应更明显;地块规模扩张、种植模式变革和比较成本优势是高标准农田建设抑制耕地“非粮化”的三条重要途径。研究结论的政策启示为:在建设农业强国过程中,应加快新一轮高标准农田建设,尽快补齐耕地质量短板;同时严格落实高标准农田利用优先序,彻底扭转耕地“非粮化”势头,为实现“藏粮于地”战略目标提供支撑。

有土斯有粮:高标准农田建设提高了粮食单产吗?

作为“藏粮于地,藏粮于技”战略的重要政策实践,高标准农田建设被期待能够有效实现粮食增产和更好保障国家粮食安全。基于27个省(市、自治区)的面板数据,探索了高标准农田建设对粮食单产的影响及其可能机制。研究发现:(1)高标准农田建设能显著提高粮食单产。替换核心变量、进行非参数估计和考虑内生性的稳健性检验,均证实上述发现可信。(2)机制验证表明,高标准农田建设主要通过提升规模经营、促进技术进步和降低生产风险三大路径来提高粮食单产。(3)异质性分析发现,高标准农田建设对起伏度较小地形、粮食主产区、较发达地区的粮食单产促进效应更大。研究结果表明高标准农田建设确实是夯实粮食安全根基的重要举措,需扎实推进新一轮高标准农田建设工作。

四川省城市建设用地扩张及其占用耕地的时空特征

[目的]研究四川省城市建设用地扩张及其占用耕地的时空特征,为保护四川省耕地资源的可持续利用,保障区域内粮食安全提供理论依据。[方法]以四川省为研究对象,基于遥感数据和GIS技术,分析了2000—2020年城市建设用地扩张对耕地占用过程的时空变异特征。[结果]20年间四川省城市建设用地持续扩张,增加了3260.56 km^(2),增长率达到110.34%,其中新增建设用地2 900.34 km^(2)流转于耕地,耕地是四川省城市建设用地扩张的主要来源,建设用地持续扩张不断蚕食城市周边耕地资源,进而有可能威胁到区域的粮食生产安全;四川省建设用地扩张在空间上具有集中分布的特征,各地市州建设用地扩张空间差异显著,扩张建设用地分布表现为以成都市为中心的高值区,然后向东部城市呈面状逐渐蔓延,而西部城市呈零星点状分布的特点;四川省建设用地扩张高度依赖对耕地的占用,近年来,虽然四川省积极推行粮食生产结构优化措施,持续实施土地整治、农业结构调整,不断加大对粮食生产的支持力度。[结论]总体上,四川省耕地面积的减少对粮食产量形成的影响程度不大,但建设用地扩张继续占用耕地加大的趋势假如得不到有效遏制,对未来粮食生产安全仍会构成潜在的威胁。