Exploring pig trade patterns to inform the design of risk-based disease surveillance and control strategies

An understanding of the patterns of animal contact networks provides essential information for the design of risk-based animal disease surveillance and control strategies. This study characterises pig movements throughout England and Wales between 2009 and 2013 with a view to characterising spatial and temporal patterns, network topology and trade communities. Data were extracted from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)’s RADAR (Rapid Analysis and Detection of Animal-related Risks) database, and analysed using descriptive and network approaches. A total of 61,937,855 pigs were moved through 872,493 movements of batches in England and Wales during the 5-year study period. Results show that the network exhibited scale-free and small-world topologies, indicating the potential for diseases to quickly spread within the pig industry. The findings also provide suggestions for how risk-based surveillance strategies could be optimised in the country by taking account of highly connected holdings, geographical regions and time periods with the greatest number of movements and pigs moved, as these are likely to be at higher risk for disease introduction. This study is also the first attempt to identify trade communities in the country, information which could be used to facilitate the pig trade and maintain disease-free status across the country in the event of an outbreak

African botanical heritage for new crop development

The African continent is rather poor in plant biodiversity when compared to other continents on and around the equator. Nevertheless, lots of useful plant species have been domesticated from Sub-Sahara Africa material. Ethnobotanical research offers the possibility to collect information on use and utility of wild plant species from traditional people often living in or close to a challenging natural environment. This type of information then allows us to find new candidates for domestication and subsequent crop development for income generation and increased food security. The case of Gnetum africanum illustrates the practical implications of developing a lesser-known species, and highlights the institutional problems that go together with niche crop development. The latter are subsequently presented and discussed in extenso, and solutions proposed in a second part of this review text

BSE: Risk, Uncertainty, and Policy Change

The authors discuss how, in our risk society, a range of potential risks and uncertainties are associated with new technologies and new diseases, such as BSE. These risks bring with them worries about human health, while the ability to assess and manage new health scares is an essential skill for government and related industries

Households typology for relating social diversity and technical change. The example of rural households in the Khambashe area of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Various South African policy statements and strategy proposals argue that farmer focused planning and farming systems research approaches are required to develop policies, strategies and project activities to serve farmers efficiently. Then, the question is how to give a practical content to these requirements, and how to avoid that technical farm relations could be emphasised without recognising the diversity in farming situations and without contextualising such technical relationships in the wider social, economic and political environment. In this prospect a research, based on rural household surveys, has been carried out in the Khambashe area of the Eastern Cape Province. On the basis of this example, the authors discuss the usefulness of household typologies to link social diversity and technical change.agriculture; households; typologie; technical change; agricultural policy; South Africa; post apartheid.

Assessing Cultural and Ecological Variation in Ethnobiological Research: The Importance of Gender

Contending that a significant portion of current ethnobiological research continues to overlook cultural variation in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and practice, this paper explores the potential impacts of gender-imbalanced research on data collection, hypothesis testing, and the formulation and application of ethnobiological inventories and theories. A multidisciplinary review of over 220 studies addresses commonly held stereotypes underlying gender-imbalanced field research and demonstrates the need for more inclusive, finely-tuned studies which disaggregate indigenous knowledge and practice by gender. The paper outlines factors underlying gender-based spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem exposure and traditional ecological knowledge in rural societies worldwide, and discusses how these factors contribute to gender differences in wild food harvesting, biodiversity and agrobiodiversity maintenance, natural resource management, and the transmission and conservation of sacred and secular customs. The review concludes with suggestions for designing and implementing more inclusive research

Discerning Differences between Producer Groups and Organic Adoption Barriers in Texas

The number of certified organic operations in Texas has remained relatively stagnant while nationally the organic food sector has experienced double-digit growth. To understand why this occurring, a survey was distributed to a random sample of 4,006 Texas producers. The results will assist in developing strategies to promote the growth of organic production in Texas.Crop Production/Industries,

Forest resources and rural livelihoods in the north-central regions of Namibia

Economics, Forestry, Markets, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Gender, Violence and Peace: A Post-2015 Development Agenda

Gender has increasingly become a part of the international peace and security agenda, particularly since the passage of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and subsequent resolutions on women, peace and security. Yet little attention has been given to examining how the resources and political will generated by the post-2015 framework could help move this agenda forward.In this paper, Saferworld and Conciliation Resources set out a vision for including gender, peace and security in the post-2015 framework. A gender, peace and security approach to post-2015 includes, but also goes beyond a focus on women's empowerment. Inter alia, it means paying attention to the relationships between gender, violence and inclusive decision-making. Building on our previous recommendations for including peacebuilding commitments in the post-2015 development agenda, we suggest targets and indicators that illustrate how gender, peace and security can best be integrated into the framework