The collection contains materials of archival documents and memoirs concerning the famine of 1931-1933 in Central Kazakhstan. Various documents from the archives reveal to the reader the most difficult period of the Soviet history of Kazakhstan, associated with the dispossession of the kulaks and debaiization of the Kazakh village and aul, Stalinist forced collectivization, forced sedentarization of nomadic Kazakh farms, large-scale cattle, meat and grain procurements, famine and epidemics in the republic. The publication introduces previously unpublished archival materials from the Central and regional archives of Kazakhstan into scientific circulation. In addition, the collection includes the memories of famine witnesses preserved by their descendants. The collection is addressed to researchers, students, as well as a wide range of readers interested in the history of Kazakhstan.

Decision-making is a frequent problem in today's financial, business, and industrial world. Thus, fuzzy expert systems are increasingly being used to solve decision-making problems by attempting to solve a part or whole of a practical problem. These expert systems have proven that they can solve problems in various domains where human expertise is required, including the field of agriculture. Fuzzy Expert Systems and Applications in Agricultural Diagnosis is a crucial source that examines the use of fuzzy expert systems for prediction and problem solving in the agricultural industry. Featuring research on topics such as nutrition management, sustainable agriculture, and defuzzification, this book is ideally designed for farmers, researchers, scientists, academics, students, policymakers, and development practitioners seeking the latest research in technological tools that support crop disease diagnosis.

Food is a necessary aspect of human life, and agriculture is crucial to any country's global economy. Because the food business is essential to both a country's economy and global economy, artificial intelligence (AI)-based smart solutions are needed to assure product quality and food safety. The agricultural sector is constantly under pressure to boost crop output as a result of population growth. This necessitates the use of AI applications. Artificial Intelligence Applications in Agriculture and Food Quality Improvement discusses the application of AI, machine learning, and data analytics for the acceleration of the agricultural and food sectors. It presents a comprehensive view of how these technologies and tools are used for agricultural process improvement, food safety, and food quality improvement. Covering topics such as diet assessment research, crop yield prediction, and precision farming, this premier reference source is an essential resource for food safety professionals, quality assurance professionals, agriculture specialists, crop managers, agricultural engineers, food scientists, computer scientists, AI specialists, students, libraries, government officials, researchers, and academicians.

Ending hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable development are at the top of the list of United Nations (UN) sustainable global development priorities. In the times of high population growth and increasing pressure of agricultural systems, efficiency in use of natural resources has been at the epicenter of sustainable agricultural. The concept of 'Input efficiency' implies production of high quantity and quality of food, from using only finite natural resources as inputs, in the form of mainly land, water, nutrients, energy, or biological diversity. In this book, editors provide a roadmap to the food, nutritional, and environmental security in the agricultural systems. They share insight into the approaches that can be put in practice for increasing the input use efficiency in the cropping systems and achieve stability and sustainability of agricultural production systems. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, climate change scientists, capacity builders and policymakers. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, agroforestry, agroecology, and environmental sciences. National and international agricultural scientists, policymakers will also find this to be a useful read.

As the demand for herbal medicines is increasing globally, the supply of medicinal plants is declining because most of this harvest is derived from wild and naturally growing resources. The genetic improvement of medicinal plants to produce higher yields and more active ingredients might help fulfil the increasing demand for medicinal plants. Medicinal plants are one of the most important sources of life-saving drugs for the world’s population. Increasing global demand for herbal medicines is accompanied by a dwindling supply of medicinal plants due to over-harvesting. Biotechnological interventions play a significant role in the improvement of crop yields and quality. Despite such progress in plant molecular biology, only limited biotechnology application has been seen in medicinal plants. Recent breakthroughs in high-throughput approaches have revolutionized this research area and shifted the focus towards omics approaches, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. This book discusses these technologies. Currently, there is no existing publication that focuses on omics and medicinal plants.

Developing countries need access to the technological advancements of the modern world in order to apply these advancements to their small-scale operations. Applying newly discovered information concerning efficient energy to remote corners of the world will ensure small-scale businesses can conduct successful production and sale of agricultural products. Advanced Agro-Engineering Technologies for Rural Business Development is an essential reference source that examines technological methods and technical means that ensure the organization of production of various products and adapts them for application in small-scale production. Additionally, it seeks to organize an efficient production process in the face of energy resource scarcity and emphasizes the need to rationally use them. This book is ideally designed for students, managers, experts, and small businesses.

The book addresses the gap that exists in sustainable value chain development in the context of developing and emerging economies in meeting the sustainable development goals. The book adopts a holistic approach and discusses significant aspects of the topic such as challenges, opportunities, best practices, technology and innovation, business models, and policy formulation. The chapters focus on all the existing and potential actors in the value chain. Comprising invited chapters from leading researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and academicians working on this topic, this edited book is useful for scientists, researchers, students, research scholars, and practitioners as it builds the latest interdisciplinary knowledge in the area. An important aspect of the book is the case studies of already ongoing projects from various emerging economies around the world. Contributions are divided into four sections-sustainable food systems and circular economy: tackling resource use, efficiency, food loss, and waste problems; technology and innovation for food value chain development; toward responsible food consumption; linking small farmers to markets: markets, institutions, and trade. Significantly, the book is organized in the context of Sustainable Development Goals and has direct relevance and linkages with SDG 1 (poverty alleviation), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (climate action), and SDG 17 (partnerships).

The protein molecule is the basic building block of every living entity. Its deficiency leads to restricted growth and development of individuals. Globally, such malnutrition is on the rise due to various reasons such as rapid population growth, stagnation of productivity, and ever-rising costs. Millions of people, especially in developing and under-developed countries, suffer from protein malnutrition and the only possible solution is to encourage farmers to grow high-protein food legume crops in their fields for domestic consumption. This, however, could be possible if farmers are provided with new cultivars with high yield, and resistance to major insects, diseases, and key abiotic stresses. The major food legume crops are chickpea, cowpea, common bean, groundnut, lentil, pigeonpea, and soybean. Predominantly, the legume crops are grown under a subsistence level and, therefore, in comparison to cereals and horticultural crops their productivity is low and highly variable. The crop breeders around the globe are engaged in breeding suitable cultivars for harsh and changing environments but success has been limited and not up to needs. With the recent development of new technologies in plant sciences, efforts are being made to help under-privileged farmers through breeding new cultivars which will produce more protein per unit of land area. In this book, the contributors analyze the constraints, review new technologies, and propose a future course of crop breeding programs in seven cold and warm season legume crops.

This book provides a thorough introduction to and examination of agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, the authors introduce the economic theory of agri-food value chains and value chain governance, focusing on domestic and regional trade in (and consumption of) food crops in a low-income country context. In addition to mainstream and heterodox thinking about value chain development, the book pays attention to political economy considerations. The book also reviews the empirical evidence on value chain development and performance in Africa. It adopts multiple lenses to examine agricultural value chains, zooming out from the micro level (e.g., relational contracting in a context of market imperfections) to the meso level (e.g., distributional implications of various value chain interventions, inclusion of specific social groups) and the macro level (underlying income, population and urbanization trends, volumes and prices, etc.).Furthermore, this book places value chain development in the context of a process the authors refer to as structural transformation 2.0, which refers to a process where production factors (labor, land and capital) move from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity agriculture. Finally, throughout the book the authors interpret the evidence in light of three important debates: (i) how competitive are rural factor and product markets, and what does this imply for distribution and innovation? (ii) what role do foreign investment and factor proportions play in the development of agri-food value chains in Africa? (iii) what complementary government policies can help facilitate a process of agricultural value chain transformation, towards high-productive activities and enhancing the capacity of value chains to generate employment opportunities and food security for a growing population.