Reducing child undernutrition through dietary diversification, reduced aflatoxin exposure, and improved hygiene practices: the immediate impacts in central Tanzania

Open Access Article; Published online: 28 Nov 2019The study aimed to quantify the immediate effects of dietary diversification, food safety, and hygiene interventions on child undernutrition in four rural villages in Kongwa district of central Tanzania. One hundred mothers with their children of less than 24 months old were recruited for this study. The difference-in-difference (DID) method was used to assess the effects of intensive intervention through a learning-by-doing process on the topic of aflatoxin free diversified food utilization and improved hygiene practices. Periodic anthropometric measurements were conducted on the 0th, 7th, 14th, and 21st days, and DID estimator showed the significant and positive average marginal effects of the intervention on Z-Scores being 0.459, 0.252, and 0.493 for wasting, stunting, and underweight, respectively. Notably, at the end of the study, the mean aflatoxin M1 level in urine samples decreased by 64% in the intervention group, while it decreased by 11% in the control group. The study provides quantitative evidence on intensive 21-day training for mothers incorporating integrated technologies yielded positive impacts on their children’s nutritional outcomes

Transition in place: dynamics, possibilities, and constraints

The Transition Movement is a translocal phenomenon circulated through transnational grassroots networks. This study explores the geographies of the Transition Movement with a theoretical framework that perceives it as both a social movement and a grassroots innovation. Participant-observation of Transition Salt Lake (TSL), located in the suburban metropolis of Salt Lake City, Utah, was conducted, as the United States remains a largely understudied country in regards to this particular movement. In this pursuit, we asked: (i) how and what this transition initiative draws from geographically extensive and intensive relations, (ii) how it combines place-specific elements and generalized models (embeddedness), and (iii) how this impacts the success of the transition initiative and how these impacts (positive or negative) are generated. Place, space, and scale played a large role in defining the nature, dynamics, possibilities, and constraints of this transition initiative. Specifically, geographically intensive and extensive relations were critical for the mobilization of complementary resources. The Transition model was found to be flexible, allowing for the initiative to adopt those elements that worked in place and to focus on locally relevant topics. TSL faced many challenges identified by previous researchers regarding finances, participation, diversity, and intragroup competition. While networking with other similar groups, TSL demonstrated that fertile environments of activism are incubatory pools for grassroots innovations and social movements, and a trade-off was found with competition for resources between local groups

From research to program design

"This paper summarizes findings from a formative research study conducted in Haiti to develop a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy to improve infant and child feeding practices and to reduce childhood malnutrition. It describes the methodology used and the tools developed to facilitate decisionmaking and effective use of formative research for program planning... The study used formative research methods that included individual and group interviews, food-rating exercises, and participatory recipe trials. The aims of the study were to (1) study current infant and young child feeding practices in the Central Plateau of Haiti, (2) identify individual, household, and community factors that may facilitate or constrain adoption of recommended behaviors, and (3) use the information from the formative research to prioritize behaviors and design an effective BCC strategy." from Authors' Abstract

Relocalising the food chain: the role of creative public procurement

The conventional food chain presents a challenge to sustainable development, containing hidden costs such as health bills, environmental damage and economic costs to the rural economy. This report argues for the development of local food chains, which would bring the 'multiple dividend' of healthier diets, local markets for local producers, lower food miles and better understanding between producers and consumers. Barriers to the growth of local food chains include EU procurement regulations and UK local government legislation that prohibit explicit 'buy local' policies, health auditing conventions which neglect the health gains of nutritious food; catering cultures that are biased to a few large firms; tendering procedures that are too complex for small suppliers; and lack of logistical and marketing capacity on the part of local producers. Schools and hospitals should be the focus for a concerted local food campaign in the UK. A local food action plan is required to reform the regulatory regime, balance demand and supply, and make it easier for consumers, especially parents and children, to buy nutritious local food, including organic food

Social safety nets in fragile states : a community-based school feeding program in Togo

This paper reviews a small community-based school feeding program launched in Togo in response to the 2007/08 food price crisis. The discussion focuses on the operational and policy lessons emerging from the program, to better understand opportunities for scale up and sustainability in the future. A focus of the discussion is how to build safety nets in fragile states and in situations where there is weak and fragmented government capacity to deliver services to disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. In this context school feeding is explored as an entry point through the use of informal mechanisms based on the commitment of communities and civil society. The analysis is premised on quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out at program sites. The discussion identifies the operational challenges and opportunities in customizing school feeding within Togo with an emphasis on targeting, cost effectiveness, procurement and institutional aspects. Evidence on the economic and social benefits of the program is also presented, focusing on dietary impacts, as well as household and local community effects. The objective of the discussion is to share lessons learned from evaluation findings so that they can be useful for implementing similar programs in the future in Togo itself or in other countries. Findings from the analysis highlight the possibilities of implementing school feeding in a low capacity setting and the scope for using the program as a springboard towards a broader and more comprehensive social safety net.Food&Beverage Industry,Education For All,Safety Nets and Transfers,Disability,Rural Poverty Reduction

Design Challenges for Innovation Management on Agro-Food Sector

Current status of research indicates that we assist to location-specific factor supremacy as determinants in regional attractiveness and sustainability being territorial driven, we offer strong arguments for policy makers in order to enable this long term strategy. We also address another issue heavily disputed between academics-that is the return to local and regional offerings as complementary to global assumption. Assisting today to a hybrid innovation process, relying upon territorial marketing-an umbrella for too many issues cvasi- exploited: eco-clusters, local and regional offerings; traditional products/services exploiting, regional clusters competing for funds; we are focusing on complex industrial -rural system reconfiguration relying upon dynamic evolution of territorial branding into competitive identity, as the disruptive behavior we need in sustainable development. Successful development strategies are based on the ability to build an institutional territorial coherence-social and environmental sustainability being inextricably interdependent, such a complex coordination structure relies on territorial knowledge sharing through expertise polls consultation- as key concept of good governance. This model of innovational resource allocation coordination on agro food chains, relying upon clusterisation through patterns of innovational management deficit, offers a relevant solution for synergic orientation of assistance and mentoring efforts on the sector, enable the capitalization of relevant capabilities and increase the addressability from innovation demand side. Based upon auditing 500 SME’s from agro food sector in Europe and 51 in SE region, the paper is fully documented on there years of data analyzing from Agro Food sector on 10 European countries in the framework on FP6 SPAS European Project.territorial knowledge sharing, innovation resource allocation, disruptive territorial solution, community supported agro food chains

Sustainable Agricultural Bioindustry Development: Integration of Cassava Cultivation with Beef Cattle Husbandry in North Sulawesi Province

This paper reviews the potential sustainable agricultural bioindustry development based on animal feed and organic fertilizer through an integration between crops cultivation with livestock production. This bio-industrial development could be carried out successfully in Indonesia, including in the region of North Sulawesi Province. Cattle feed bioindustry could be developed from biomass of cassava plantation, such as the cassava leaves, tubers and cassava peelers. Whereas, the solid and liquid organic fertilizers bioindustry could be developed from cattle feces and urine. Agricultural bioindustry can be carried out in all areas of North Sulawesi Province, because almost in every district has beef cattle and cassava plants. The largest cassava production in North Sulawesi Province are in the regencies of Bolaang Mongondow, Sangihe Island and Talaud Island. Whereas the highest population of beef cattle are in the regencies of Bolaang Mongondow, North Bolaang Mongondow, Minahasa, North Minahasa and South Minahasa. Therefore, this type of bioindustry will be well implemented in the three regencies of Bolaang Mongondow, Minahasa and North Minahasa, as there are large cassava plants and with a high livestock population in these three areas. Although numbers of beef cattle population are also higher in some other regencies, but the production of cassava in those areas are still very small

THE VALUE OF QUALITY CERTIFICATION FOR INFANT FOODS: RESULTS FROM A MARKET EXPERIMENT IN MALI

This paper uses an experimental-economics technique to measure the potential impact of introducing quality certification to the market for infant foods in Mali, where malnutrition is widespread. We find that certification could substantially lower food costs, generating net economic benefits on the order of US$20 per infant, per year.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,