Global impact of COVID-19 on agriculture: role of sustainable agriculture and digital farming.

The rise and spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created an imbalance in all sectors worldwide, massively disrupting the global economy. Social distancing, quarantine regulations, and strict travel restrictions have led to a major reduction in the workforce and loss of jobs across all industrial sectors. One of the sectors completely exposed was the agriculture and food sector. The initiation of a nationwide lockdown by the government resulted in the shutdown of industries globally impacting the overall supply chain from farmer to consumer. The need of the hour is to propose effective solutions which can serve the dual purpose of market growth as well as customer satisfaction. This paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 on the agro-food system and its economy stressing critical factors like food production, demand, price hikes, security, and supply chain resilience. To conserve natural resources and meet the sustainable development goals (SDG), importance has been given to adopting sustainable agricultural practices with a prime focus on techniques like urban agriculture, crop rotation, hydroponics, and family farming. Possible advancements like the use of digital tools, mainly artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and block-chain technology, in the agro-food sector have been discussed as they could be a promising tool to develop a self-reliant society. This work would be a perfect platform to understand the growing impact of the pandemic as well as supporting cost-effective solutions for a green ecosystem.

Metformin as an emerging concern in wastewater: Occurrence, analysis and treatment methods.

Metformin is a wonder drug used as an anti-hypoglycemic medication; it is also used as a cancer suppression medicament. Metformin is a first line of drug choice used by doctors for patients with type 2 diabetes. It is used worldwide where the drug's application varies from an anti-hypoglycemic medication to cancer oppression and as a weight loss treatment drug. Due to its wide range of usage, metformin and its byproducts are found in waste water and receiving aquatic environment. This leads to the accumulation of metformin in living beings and the environment where excess concentration levels can lead to ailments such as lactic acidosis or vitamin B12 deficiency. This drug could become of future water treatment concerns with its tons of production per year and vast usage. As a result of continuous occurrence of metformin has demanded the need of implementing and adopting different strategies to save the aquatic systems and the exposure to metformin. This review discuss the various methods for the elimination of metformin from wastewater. Along with that, the properties, occurrence, and health and environmental impacts of metformin are addressed. The different analytical methods for the detection of metformin are also explained. The main findings are discussed with respect to the management of metformin as an emerging contaminants and the major recommendations are discussed to understand the major research gaps.