HIV and orientation of subsistence and commercial home gardens in rural Ghana: Crop composition, crop diversity and food security

An empirical study was conducted to explore differences and similarities in biodiversity in subsistence and commercial home gardens of HIV-positive and HIV-negative rural households in the Eastern Region of Ghana and their significance in household food security. Data were obtained through a household and home garden survey of a purposive sample of 32 HIV-positive and a random sample of 48 HIV-negative rural households and through in-depth interviews. A higher proportion of species common to all four home garden types consisted of food crops: vegetables, staples and fruits. In HIV-positive households, commercial home gardens were significantly larger, had significantly more species and individual plants, more perennial food crops and more species that were harvested all year round and evenness was lower, but there was no significant difference in species diversity compared with subsistence home gardens. Significantly, more HIV-positive and HIV-negative households with a commercial home garden consumed a staple crop cultivated in the home garden in the 24-h period prior to the survey than HIV-positive households with subsistence home gardens. Rural households with HIV that manage commercial home gardens cultivate a dual purpose home garden which supplies subsistence food and also provides cash income; such households may have better food security than households that cultivate subsistence home garden

Farmers’ knowledge and perception of the dry cassava root rot disease in Brong Ahafo region of Ghana

Cassava root rot disease caused by soil-borne pathogens cause substantial yield loss in cassava production. Recently cassava root rot disease caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae was widespread in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. Seventy cassava farmers were randomly selected from each of the following Districts of the Brong-Ahafo Region: Dormaa East and Sunyani West Districts and the Nkoranza South Municipal. The farmers were interviewed face to face using a structured questionnaire to obtain information on their knowledge and perception on the cassava root rot disease. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. All the respondents (100%) identified the dark brown fragmented storage root tissue symptom as the final stage of the disease but only 17.1% identified all the symptoms of the disease. Most of the respondents (74.3%) emphasized that cassava root rot disease occur throughout the year but incidence was higher in the rainy season. Only 36.7% indicated that the disease spreads through the soil. Majority (91.4%) reported high rainfall and high temperatures as the cause of the disease; 40% indicated cultivation of susceptible cassava varieties; 60% mentioned delayed harvesting; 41.1% indicated cultivating in waterlogged soils; 6% attributed the disease to glyphosate application; 5.2% indicated high weed density, but none mentioned continuous cropping of cassava as the cause of cassava root rot. Findings reveal that farmers have a fair knowledge of the disease but they lack methods to control the disease. Appropriate cultural practices and disease tolerant varieties need to be adopted to control the cassava root rot disease effectively

Home garden: a potential strategy for food and nutrition security in HIV households : a case study in rural Ghana

Keywords: Home garden, HIV and AIDS, dietary diversity, plant species diversity, coping strategy index, food security, Ghana. The aim of this thesis was to explore how rural households with HIV and AIDS in Ghana are employing home garden management strategies to enhance food and nutrition security and also to examine the seasonal dimension of coping with food insecurity in these rural households through documentation of the frequency and severity of the food–related coping behaviours adopted during periods of peak seasonal food shortages. In Sub-Saharan Africa, home garden cultivation is considered to be a potential strategy for rural households with HIV and AIDS to cope with labour constraints and to improve food and nutrition security. However, existing research that has addressed the relationship between HIV and AIDS, home gardens and food security focused on predictions; there is severe dearth of empirical evidence. Qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used in this study. Data collection methods included focus group discussions, interviews with key informants, a questionnaire-based survey, in-depth interviews in case studies and participant observations. A 24-hour qualitative dietary recall was used to assess dietary intake of households studied and the Coping Strategy Index was used to assess the severity of household food-related coping behaviours. Data on biophysical aspects of the home gardens was obtained through a home garden survey. The results showed that when labour constraint reduced field cultivation in rural households with HIV and AIDS, labour input in home garden significantly increased; rural households did not cultivate a greater diversity of plant species in home gardens, but rather relatively more food items of the essential food groups were consumed from home gardens. This contributed significantly to dietary diversity. Uncovering the effect of the interaction between household HIV status and gender of the household head on home garden biodiversity indicated that female-headed households with HIV and AIDS depended more on home gardens than their counterparts without HIV and AIDS in producing crops for sustenance and dietary diversity. Exploring the biodiversity in home gardens of rural households with HIV and AIDS when home garden cultivation is also meant to generate cash income revealed that rural households experiencing HIV and AIDS illness in cultivating commerce-oriented home gardens cultivated a dual purpose home garden that provided cash income and also supplied subsistence food. Assessing the frequency and severity of the food-related coping behaviours adopted by farm households with HIV and AIDS during the post-harvest period and in the lean season showed that farm households with HIV and AIDS were more vulnerable to food insecurity in both the post-harvest and lean season; this vulnerability was also reflected in their poverty, family care burdens (larger number of dependents and ill persons), lower education level and meagre income earning opportunity. It is essential that concerted efforts are made to improve the general well-being of farm households with HIV and AIDS by empowering rural households with HIV and AIDS in terms of capacity building, access to livelihood assets and access to finance.   &nbsp

Resource Management and Rural Development HIV/AIDS impacts on commercial-orientation in home garden cultivation: a case study of rural Ghana

Abstract Recent studies on home gardens have focused on their potential in enhancing food security in rural households in HIV/AIDS affliction. Their role in contributing to cash income has received relatively limited research attention. This study assessed the extent of variations and similarities in crop species composition and diversity

Fungi associated with sweet potato tuber rot at CSIR - PGRRI, Bunso, Eastern Region, Ghana

Rotten sweet potato root tuber samples were collected from a barn and experimental field of the CSIR - Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), Bunso. Isolation and identification of the fungi associated with the samples were carried out at the Plant Pathology Laboratory of the same institute. In all, six fungal species belonging to four genera, namely Fusarium solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger were isolated from the samples from both the barn and the experimental field of CSIR - PGRRI. Fusarium solani and Aspergillus niger were frequently isolated from the sweet potato tuber samples from both the field and the barn. Pathogenicity tests carried out using the six fungal isolates on fresh and healthy sweet potato tubers showed that all the six fungi isolated were pathogenic in causing rot of sweet potato tubers with Lasiodiplodia theobromae being the most virulent

Diagnostics for COVID-19: A case for field-deployable, rapid molecular tests for community surveillance

Across the globe, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing distress with governments doing everything in their power to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) to prevent morbidity and mortality. Actions are being implemented to keep health care systems from being overstretched and to curb the outbreak. Any policy responses aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus and mitigating its immediate effects on health care systems require a firm basis of information about the absolute number of currently infected people, growth rates, and locations/hotspots of infections. The only way to obtain this base of information is by conducting numerous tests in a targeted way. Currently, in Ghana, there is a centralized testing approach, that takes 4-5 days for samples to be shipped and tested at central reference laboratories with results communicated to the district, regional and nationalstakeholders. This delay in diagnosis increases the risk of ongoing transmission in communities and vulnerable institutions. We have validated, evaluated and deployed an innovative diagnostic tool on a mobile laboratory platform to accelerate the COVID-19 testing. A preliminary result of 74 samples from COVID-19 suspected cases has a positivity rate of 12% with a turn-around time of fewer than 3 hours from sample taking to reporting of results, significantly reducing the waiting time from days to hours, enabling expedient response by the health system for contact tracing to reduce transmission and additionally improving case management

Mosquito control by abatement programmes in the United States: perspectives and lessons for countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa and the United States are both large, heterogeneous geographies with a diverse range of ecologies, climates and mosquito species diversity which contribute to disease transmission and nuisance biting. In the United States, mosquito control is nationally, and regionally coordinated and in so much as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides guidance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides pesticide registration, and the states provide legal authority and oversight, the implementation is usually decentralized to the state, county, or city level. Mosquito control operations are organized, in most instances, into fully independent mosquito abatement districts, public works departments, local health departments. In some cases, municipalities engage independent private contractors to undertake mosquito control within their jurisdictions. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where most vector-borne disease endemic countries lie, mosquito control is organized centrally at the national level. In this model, the disease control programmes (national malaria control programmes or national malaria elimination programmes (NMCP/NMEP)) are embedded within the central governments' ministries of health (MoHs) and drive vector control policy development and implementation. Because of the high disease burden and limited resources, the primary endpoint of mosquito control in these settings is reduction of mosquito borne diseases, primarily, malaria. In the United States, however, the endpoint is mosquito control, therefore, significant (or even greater) emphasis is laid on nuisance mosquitoes as much as disease vectors. The authors detail experiences and learnings gathered by the delegation of African vector control professionals that participated in a formal exchange programme initiated by the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA), the University of Notre Dame, and members of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA), in the United States between the year 2021 and 2022. The authors highlight the key components of mosquito control operations in the United States and compare them to mosquito control programmes in SSA countries endemic for vector-borne diseases, deriving important lessons that could be useful for vector control in SSA

Stakeholder collaboration in climate-smart agricultural production innovations: insights from the Cocoa industry in Ghana

Although collaboration is vital in addressing global environmental sustainability challenges, research understanding on stakeholder engagement in climate-smart production innovation adoption and implementation, remains limited. In this paper, we advance knowledge about stakeholder collaboration by examining the roles played by stakeholders in scaling up ecological sustainability innovations. Using the illustrative context and case of green cocoa industry in Ghana, the analysis identified three distinctive phases of stakeholder engagement in ecological sustainability innovations implemented from 1960-2017. We highlight defining periods of ecological challenges encompassing the production recovery sustainability initiative phase solely driven by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)–a governmental body responsible for production, processing and marketing of cocoa, coffee and sheanut. During the period, major initiatives were driven by non-governmental organisations in collaboration with COCOBOD to implement the Climate-Smart agriculture scheme in the cocoa sector. The findings have implications for cocoa production research and stakeholder collaboration in environmental innovations adoption

Interactive effects of HIV/AIDS and household headship determine home garden diversity in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Home gardens are important for enhancing food and nutritional security for HIV/AIDS-afflicted rural households through dietary diversity. Female-headed households may depend on home gardens more than average households to supply and supplement the household's diet when tabour is constrained for Field cropping. This paper compares household characteristics, dietary diversity, tabour allocated to crop husbandry and home gat-den biodiversity amongst 22 HIV/AIDS-afflicted female-headed households, 15 non-HIV/AIDS-afflicted female-headed, To HIV/AIDS-afflicted dual-headed and 33 non-HIV/AIDS-afflicted dual-headed households in rural communities in the Eastern Region of Ghana. information on household characteristics and tabour allocation to home garden management was obtained through a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interviews. Dietary diversity score was estimated for each household based on a 24-hour qualitative dietary recall. Plant species in each home garden were recorded. HIV/AIDS affliction did not affect home garden diversity but afflicted households had more on-farm sources of income and a higher dietary diversity and allocated more adult tabour to home garden activities than non-afflicted households. Dual-headed households had more diversity in the home garden and allocated more adult male tabour to the home garden than female-headed households. Statistically significant interactions between HIV/AIDS affliction and headship were observed for Shannon-Wiener index, number of crop species, number of annual crop species and number of root and tuber crop species in the home gardens: there were no headship effects when households were afflicted whereas dual-headed households had higher values than female-headed households in non-afflicted households. HIV/AIDS-afflicted households had significantly more annual crop species and more root and tuber crop species than non-afflicted households for female-headed households, whereas there were no significant differences for dual-headed households. Faced with confinement to the homestead in caregiving and by the obligation to ensure household food and nutritional security, HIV/AIDS-afflicted households spent more (female) tabour on home garden management than non-afflicted households to produce crops for sustenance and dietary diversity