The present study measured household hunger in South-East Nigeria amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 1209 households (urban and rural locations) were sampled. Household hunger was determined using the Radimer–Cornel hunger scale. Results show that before the COVID-19 lockdown, hunger prevalence in the urban areas was 85.5%, whereas prevalence in the rural areas was significantly lower, at a prevalence of 79.9% (7.3% level of association—X2 = 6.499, p = 0.012). During the COVID-19 lockdown, the prevalence of hunger in the urban areas rose to 98.0% and 99.2% in the rural areas (4.9% level of association was X2 = 2.888, p = 0.089). It was also observed that the COVID-19 lockdown significantly affected food prices. The major coping strategy employed by households was relying on less expensive foods (81.14%). High household hunger was identified as a short-term cost of the COVID-19 lockdown in South-East Nigeria. Only a few households (16.3%) benefited from the food aid programs and 16.9% from the government palliative cash transfer. It is recommended that the government setup a formidable unit that will develop physical and digital plans for effective implementation during a COVID-19 lockdown situation or other emergencies.

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Thirty male Wistar rats, split into five groups of six rats each, were administered different forms of oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis) sap samples by gavage based on 1.5% of their weekly body weights. Group 1 which served as control received only water, group 2 received pasteurized palm sap (PPS), group 3 received market palm wine (MPW), group 4 received frozen palm sap (FPS), whereas group 5 received fresh palm sap (FrPS). Chemical composition of the sap samples was determined. Normal feed and water were fed ad libitum. After 2 months of treatment, each male rat group was allowed 7 days to mate with six female Wistar rats. Thereafter, blood and epididymal samples were collected for testosterone assay and sperm count, respectively, before they were humanely sacrificed and testicular tissues taken for testicular histology. Litter weight and size of the pups produced by the females of each group were determined at birth. The sap samples contained carbohydrate (0.01-11.71%), protein (1.56-1.95%), ash (0.22-0.35%), moisture (92.55-98.24%), and alcohol (0.26-3.50%). PPS-treated rat group had significantly (P < .05) decreased sperm count (42.60 -23.64 · 10 6 ), abnormal increase in testosterone level, and necrosis in the histology of the testes with reduced spermatogenetic activity, compared with other treatment groups. The female rats crossed with male rats fed on FrPS or FPS produced the highest number of pups followed by the control group. This study demonstrated that the intake of FrPS improved fertility in male animals, but its administration for a long period led to necrotic changes in the testes, whereas pasteurization of palm sap, impacted negatively on the reproductive indices of male animals.

Cereals and legumes are prone to perishability and have very short shelf-life if not given proper treatment. During different handling and marketing operations, there is a huge postharvest loss of agricultural produce. The qualitative and quantitative losses incurred in cereals and legumes commodities between harvest and consumption are huge. Qualitative losses such as loss inedibility, nutritional quality, calorific value, and consumer acceptability of fresh produce are much more difficult to assess than are quantitative losses. The major cause of postharvest loss (PHL) is the availability of poor infrastructure for postharvest technology (PHT) and processing of commodities. These losses can only be minimized by proper handling, marketing, and processing of the agricultural commodities; as well as the use of modern preservation technologies such as irradiation, radio frequency heating, etc. The sufficient knowledge of pre-and post-harvest preservation technologies and the provision of adequate and sufficient storage facilities for cereals and legumes handling and distribution would help to mitigate the incidence of postharvest deterioration and therefore improve the availability of cereals and legumes in the market and subsequent reduction in malnutrition for increased food security. Postharvest preservation technology of cereals and legumes is very fundamental in reducing postharvest losses and increasing food security.

Oilseeds have been cultivated from antiquity with increasing demand in agricultural industries world trade. Many economies such as Malaysia depend largely on oilseed crops which are grown primarily for the edible oil production; and for additional meal fraction arising from the seed. The meal is rich in protein and used for animal feed. Recent developments in research have posited oilseeds as a viable source for the production of biodiesel. In the tropics, most of the oilseeds are underutilized; and interest in its mass production and utilization are lacking. Some other seed such as neem seeds, pawpaw seeds, Jatropha curcas L. seeds, etc. have not been put to use in tropical countries leading to subsistence production and their applications in other areas. The oilseed crops could be used either for human, animal or for industrial purposes. There is need to increase the volume of production of these oils in tropical countries through improved quality farming techniques that would encourage breeding in other to meet up with increasing demands. Notably, there are many conventional methods that have been used to increase oilseeds yields. However, the adoption of each technology improvement should be sustainable, while other unknown oilseeds should be discovered for increased utilization.

The results obtained for the formulated custard products showed evidence of significant (P < 0.05) interaction of the basic raw materials used for the production. The functional properties of the samples varied significantly (P < 0.05) between the samples with the least gelation ranging from 2.00%-4.10%; water absorption ranged from 1.43%-2.80% while the bulk density ranged from 0.06%-0.93%. The P-value for lack-of-fit 0.956 indicates that it was not significant, invariably, the model equation is fitted. It was therefore observed that the independent variables had positive effect on the samples including the interaction effect. The commercial product was observed to absorb more water than the developed samples. The least gelation capacity of the commercial and untreated samples was comparably higher against the treated samples. The anti-nutritional factors of phytate and Saponin contents of the samples ranged from 1.94% to 3.00% and 3.50% to 5.30%, respectively. The untreated samples had the highest contents of

People having access to physical, social and economic food that is sufficient, safe and nutritious to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, for an active and healthy life, could be a mirage without the involvement of local communities, in global effort to mitigate malnutrition. World leaders have identified the lacuna in the drive for food security and therefore, seek a sustainable approach through which biotechnology and functional food technology could be tailored to forestall food insecurity, especially in emerging global situations. Consequently, researchers in food microbiology, enzyme biotechnology, among other disciplines are making concerted effort to provide solutions to some emerging world problems such as banditry, wars, climate change, internal displacement, migration, among others. Emphasis on the role of functional foods and biotechnology for sustainable food security should be paramount on the global scale as championed by United Nations Organization (UNO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Health Organization/World Bank (WHO/WB) and World Food Programme on Malnutrition. Functional food components such as biotin, carotenoids, lycopene, monosaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, among others could be tailored to reduce the incidences coronary heart diseases, diabetes and free radicals in the body for improved nutrition, while nutritional education, alongside global support and empowerment initiatives for sustainability in agricultural biotechnological approaches would be highly imperative. It is therefore imperative for the global support agencies to reduce malnutrition to emphasize food functionality such as the role of carotenoids, fatty acids, lycopene, vitamins, minerals, biotin, fibre, etc in combating food insecurity through nutritional education, and in farming operations. It is in doing so that the role of food biotechnology would impact positively on the affected population, whereby foods are not just in abundance but also have the ability and capacity to provide the needed food ingredients to functionally prevent cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neutralize free radicals and prevent antioxidant activity in the body.

The research investigated the effect of drying temperature and time; and the proportion of different samples on the physicochemical and sensory properties of herbal tea from lemongrass, moringa leaf and ginger. The samples were analyzed using standard methods. The results obtained showed that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in the proximate composition (%) of the samples (with fats, protein, carbohydrate, ash, moisture, and fibre contents ranged from 0.01-4.01, 3.90-6.67, 67.59-78.91, 2.02-6.90, 3.14-6.01 and 8.89-12.02, respectively. The phytochemical analyses showed significant (P<0.05) variations that could be attributed to the effect of temperature of drying, duration and proportion of ginger, moringa and lemon grass leaves. The oxalates ranged from 0.01-3.89 mg/g, alkaloids (2.89-7.89 mg/g), saponin (0.22-5.47 mg/g), phytates (0.08-6.67 mg/g), phenols (0.01-4.01 mg/g, flavonoids (0.06-16.34 mg/g, steroids (0.33-7.83 mg/g and Terpenoids (0.02-7.98 mg/g). It was observed that the vitamins (mg/g) and minerals (mg/g) likewise showed significant (P<0.05) variations with  vtamins A, B1, C and D ranging from 7.57-12.05, 1.78-11.45, 2.77-11.91 and 4.32-12.11, respectively while the magnesium, calcium, manganese, potassium and sodium ranged from 3.64-8.89, 2.36-8.20, 0.00-0.04, 3.22-12.33 and 6.13-10.12, respectively. The samples with higher content of the lemon grass were observed to contain more flavonoids than others but increased concentration of the moringa and reduced the flavonoids content.