Enhancing Food Grains Storage Systems through Insect Pest Detection and Control Measures for Maize and Beans: Ensuring Food Security Post-COVID-19 Tanzania
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors have compiled a unique review article, however it is not acceptable in current shape, thereofore I recommend a major revision based on the following comments,
Decision: Major Revision
1. Although its a review/survey paper, there is no figure how the whole survey is organized, something like a tree that shows the main headings and sub headings all details at a glance, for example check out this article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110016823000327
2. The article lacks the figure showing that from which year or which sources were mostly included in the article, the frequency graph or line graph please take help from this article: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3561971
3. The systematic figure 1, can be improved, this one looks too simple and does not include all the information required.
4. Title is not clear, please find a suitable article that best matches your work.
5. Show some infographics and consumption of maize in the world, which country consumes high, produce high, then relate this to Tanzania and the world epidemic thing, there must be a storyline all the dots must be connected. For example, World, Continents, Africa, Tanzania thats how it should be, some inforgraphic in pie chart form or other spider charts etc.
6. The collected material is good, but the presentation is poor, authors need to improve the overall presentation of the article.
7. Some recent and important literature about plant diseases is missing, the articles also include information about the statistics of diseases and infections.
- https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/15/6949
- https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1226
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors write a manuscript how to «Enhancing Food Grains Storage Systems, Pest Detection and Control Measures for Maize and Beans: Ensuring Food Security Post-COVID-19 Tanzania». This paper reviews more than 161 published articles dated back from 1983 to 2023, assessing storage management for maize and beans. Identifying gaps between Tanzania and global advancements aiming to empower farming communities with latest technologies, and ensuring food security amid the pandemic.
However, this magazine is about sustainability. The authors make a literature review on some preventive and combat measures for these stored products. But although these 161 articles, the authors did not look for very important bibliographic references such as the FAO notebooks, and some works published by experts who brought these technologies to the conservation of grains. On the other hand, they limit themselves to showing what they have found in the bibliography and do not make an assessment of what can be done in Tanzania: from the large warehousers to the family farmer. Nor do they discuss within this review, the pros and cons of using these tools in their country.
They make some confusion between losses and waste. But beware of losses: are the grains for seed? The embryo must be preserved. Is it for animal feed or human food? Will it be sold whole or processed? How to reduce these losses along the chain. Introducing the concept of circular economy. This would be an article about improving storage systems in a sustainable way.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAfter reading and analyzing the manuscript, I make some suggestions to the authors.
Present the relationship between your research and the objectives of sustainable development (ODS);
Overall, the review article is well structured but i realize that the issue of covid, in this study, is extremely unnecessary. In itself, the review is complete, I do not see the need for this relationship, especially because the support bases for investigation for situations before and after the pandemic are weak. I suggest removing covid 19, including reformulating the title;
Species names must be accompanied by the author, year, and parentheses order and family. example: Sitophilus zeamais Mots., 1855(Coleptera: Curculionidae);
In item 6.2. Botanical Products would like the authors to present research on plants for insect control, addressing other solvents and different parts of the plant and not just the essential oil;
Item 6.7. Airtight storage can be added to item 4 as a suggestion;
References are current.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article submitted for evaluation has been significantly supplemented compared to its original version. However, it requires further corrections. There are no references to the figures in the text of the article. The figures should be placed as close as possible to the text fragment they are related to. Moreover, figures 2 - 5 are of poor quality. The article also includes one very large table, but there are no references to it in the text. However, in the "Conclusions" chapter, the authors refer to Table No. 2, and a table with this number is not included in this article
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors made an attempt to address my concerns, but regrettably, their response has left me unsatisfied. Consequently, I propose rejecting this article. I suggest submitting it to more suitable venues, such as Q3 or Q4 journals, as the current state and quality of the manuscript fall below the standards expected for publication in this journal.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Extensive english proofread is required.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript has been improved.
Reference citations were introduced.
For my part I am satisfied
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn general, the authors accepted my suggestions, but they don't make SDG 2 clear. Therefore, the authors should make it clear in the text, including:
The review is consistent with SDG 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture) in the sense that when there is restricted movement of people and commodities due to the global pandemic (covid-19), there will be food shortages if nothing was stored by resource-constrained rural inhabitants, leading to food insecurity and starvation.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 3
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAccept in present form .
