Covid-19 pandemic effects on food safety - Multi-country survey study.

This study provides an important insight into the response of food safety systems during the first months of the pandemic, elevating the perspective of preventing Covid-19 within conventional food safety management systems. A multi-country survey was conducted in 16 countries involving 825 food companies. Based on the results of the survey, it is obvious that the level of maturity of a food safety system in place is the main trigger in classifying companies and their responses to the pandemic challenge. Staff awareness and hygiene are the two most important attributes in combating Covid-19, opposed to temperature checking of workers in food establishment and health protocols from the World Health Organization, recognized as attributes with limited salience and importance. Companies confirmed implementation of more restrictive hygiene procedures during the pandemic and the need for purchasing more additional personal protective equipment. Retailers were identified as the food supply chain link mostly affected by the pandemic opposed to food storage facilities ranked as least affected. During this challenging period, all companies declared that food safety has not been compromised at any moment. It is important to note that less than a half of the food companies had documented any emergency plans associated with pandemics and health issues in place.

Rural credit access and contract farming nexus in Ethiopia: A meta-analysis.

This review aims to assess the variability in empirical research conducted on the assertion that access to credit is an exceptional way to overcome some of the financial obstacles associated with contract farming adoption by farmers. Numerous studies have examined how credit access increases the adoption of agricultural technology at the national level. However, because the researchers' findings are heterogeneous, their applicability at the national level is limited. The random effects model showed that access to credit increases farmers' contract farming adoption by 1.76 units compared to farmers with no access to credit. Additionally, the results of the meta-analysis revealed that the weighted average of the effect sizes in the studies was 40.01%. This indicates that access to credit encourages smallholder farmers to use different agricultural technologies and high-yielding varieties through contract farming. It recommends significant improvements from the government to encourage contract farming and facilitate credit access to assist smallholder farmers in rural areas.

Spatial effects of market integration on the industrial agglomeration of agricultural products: evidence from China.

The spatial effects of agricultural market integration on industrial agglomeration are an important field of regional economic. This paper collected the data of agricultural market integration and industrial agglomeration in 31 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, analyzed the spatial effects of the two by constructing a dynamic spatial Dubin model, and explored its long-term and short-term effects of the spatial effects. The results show the following: (1) the primary terms of agricultural market integration were negative and the secondary terms were positive. The impact of agricultural market integration on local industrial agglomeration had a "U-shaped" characteristic. Whether in the short-term or long-term, there was a significant direct effect of "suppression to promotion." (2) The agricultural market integration had a spatial spillover effect on industrial agglomeration in the neighboring areas. This effect had an "inverted U-shaped" characteristic. Whether in the short-term or long-term, there was a prominent spatial spillover effect of "promotion to suppression." (3) For direct effects, the short-term direct effects of agricultural market integration on industrial agglomeration were - 0.0452 and 0.0077, and the long-term direct effects were - 0.2430 and 0.0419. For spatial spillover effects, the short-term spatial spillover effects were 0.0983 and - 0.0179, and the long-term spatial spillover effects were 0.4554 and - 0.0827. The long-term effects were greater than the short-term effects. This paper provides empirical evidence for the effects of agricultural market integration on industrial agglomeration in different regions, and exploring the development of agricultural agglomeration in the long-term.

Impacts of family care for children and the elderly on women's employment: evidence from rural China.

Introduction: China's traditional culture makes rural women and men take on different family responsibilities. Methods: Use "China Family Panel Studies" (CFPS) data and build Logit and propensity score matching models to empirically study the impact of children care and elderly care on rural married women going out to work. And explore the welfare effects of basic education public services in helping rural women take care of their families. Results: The results show that caring for children has a significant hindering effect on rural married women's job hunting. Especially for those in low-income families, the employment inhibition is most significant among women aged 20-30 with multiple children. Contrary to previous cognition, supporting the elderly has a certain weak stimulating effect. The kindergarten public services in rural areas can help women take care of their children and relieve their work pressure. The primary school public services have not played a role in alleviating them. Discussion: This shows that there are still a large number of female laborers in rural China who are unable to go out to work due to family care. The improvement of rural basic education public services can promote more rural women going out to work. This finding will provide a policy reference for the introduction of a formal care system and the establishment of basic education public services in China.

Dairy Production under Climatic Risks: Perception, Perceived Impacts and Adaptations in Punjab, Pakistan.

The changing climatic conditions coupled with fodder availability have posed severe challenges and threats for the dairy sector in Pakistan. The current paper determines the influence of climate change on the dairy sector in Pakistan. Comprehensive data set was collected from 450 farmers. The majority of farmers experienced the climate change and its variability and explained that severity and frequency of climatic extreme events such as droughts, heat waves, floods, pests and diseases and humidity is increasing. The study found that farmers considered drought as one of the major climatic risks which severely affects all aspects of dairy production. Specifically, to estimate the perceived impacts of climatic extreme event on milk production, an ordered probit model was applied and identified that climate change had high adverse impact on milk quantity in the study area. Different adaptation practices, such as changing cropping pattern for fodder production, off-farm income activities, diversifying the farm and regular vaccination are mostly used by dairy farmers. The study recommends policy initiatives to be taken by government for long term developments in the dairy farming.

[A basic study and clinical trial of 585 nm pulsed dye laser in the treatment of congestive scars].

OBJECTIVE: To study the biological effects of 585 nm pulsed dye laser (FLPDL) in the treatment of congestive scar. METHODS: By histological study, collagen VG staining and microvascular staining, we investigated the changes of collagen fibers and the density of microvessels in the congestive scars after FLPDL treatment. RESULTS: Histological and immunohistochemistry examinations showed that FLPDL achieved normal vascularity in the scar after over 3 times of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: PDL treatment can change fundamentally the physiology of wound healing if applied in the early phases.