Institutional Innovations for Smallholder Compliance with International Food Safety Standards: Experiences from Kenya, Ethiopian and Zambian Green Bean Growers

Many African countries have moved into the production of non-traditional agricultural products to diversify their exports and increase foreign currency earnings. Accessing developed country markets requires meeting food safety standards brought about by several demand and supply side factors. Food retailers in the EU, the major destination market, have developed protocols relating to pesticide residue limits, field and packinghouse hygiene, and traceability. In this changing scenario where food safety requirements are getting increasingly stringent, there are worries that companies that establish production centers in LDCs might exclude smallholder farmers. In this paper, we study the cases of green beans production in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia for export to high value European markets. Though the immediate effect of the imposition of stringent food safety standards has been to screen away smallholders, there has been continued participation of smallholders in some cases. This paper finds that emergence of new institutional arrangements have enabled the smallholders to maintain their participation in high value European markets. In particular, public-private partnerships have played a key role in helping smallholder farmers acquire training on and certification against European food safety standards. Collective action in form of producer organizations has enabled smallholders to jointly invest in costly facilities and take advantage of economies of scale to remain competitive. Producer organizations also allow for cheaper means for buyers to ensure traceability and are critical in reducing transaction costs of linking up with smallholders.international food safety standards, compliance, smallholder farmers, institutional arrangements, collective action, producer organizations, public-private partnerships, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Non-Communicable Diseases and Urbanization in African Cities: A Narrative Review

Rapid urbanization in Africa has been linked to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Urbanization processes have amplified lifestyle risk factors for NCDs (including unhealthy diets, tobacco use, harmful alcohol intake, and physical inactivity), especially among individuals of low and middle social economic status. Nevertheless, African countries are not keeping pace with the ever increasing need for population-level interventions such as health promotion through education, screening, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as structural measures such as policies and legislation to prevent and control the upstream factors driving the NCD epidemic. This chapter highlights the NCD burden in urban Africa, along with the social determinants and existing interventions against NCDs. The chapter concludes by offering insights into policy and legislative opportunities and recommends stronger efforts to apply multisectoral and intersectoral approaches in policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring at multiple levels to address the NCD epidemic in African cities

The Challenges and Opportunities of Dar es - Salaam City Bus Rapid Transit on Implementation and Operations

Urban traffic congestion is primarily prevalent in large cities caused by city population growth and inefficiency of transportation infrastructure. To minimize the problem, in year 2016, Dar es Salaam city implemented the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) transportation mode. This study introduced to describe the challenges and opportunities of the BRT project to the livelihoods of the city inhabitant. According to the finding, management concerns and regular floods in the main station area are among the project challenges, furthermore, the adoption of the BRT system has typically contributed to the improvement of the urban economy by attracting street seller’s around the buses stops, lowering travel times and enhancing access to fundamental society services. The study used a mixed methods approach, which includes both quantitative and qualitative data Keywords: Bus Rapid Transit; transportation; infrastructure DOI: 10.7176/DCS/11-7-03 Publication date:July 31st 202

Mineralizable soil nitrogen: amounts and extractability ratios

Includes bibliographical references (page 80).Studies were conducted on a 15N-labeled Weirdale loam, a Dark Gray Chernozemic soil (Boralfic Boroll) to (i) determine the amounts of N released by several methods previously used to obtain an estimate of potentially mineralizable N, (ii) determine their 15N enrichment and extractability ratios, and (iii) compare the results from the above with the N mineralized during incubation and NH+4 released by the chloroform fumigation incubation technique. The NH+4-N accumulated during 10 d in fumigated soils accounted for ∼1% of total N, was highly labeled, and had extractability ratios of 6.6 to 7.4. These ratios were similar to ones obtained for N mineralized during incubation of unfumigated soils. Ammonium-N extracted with dilute acidic permanganate solution (0.01M KMnO4 in 0.1 or 0.5M H2SO4) accounted for 0.72 to 0.84% of total N and had extractability ratios ranging from 3.4 to 3.9. A stronger solution of acidic permanganate extracted more N that was less enriched. Dilute sulfuric acid extracted NH+4 and organic N that had extractability ratios of < 3. Ammonium-N released by autoclaving the soil accounted for ∼1% of total N and had extractability ratios ranging from 0.6 to 0.9. Acid hydrolysis showed that 72% of total N was hydrolyzable, 32% was amino acid-N and 20% was NH+4 released on hydrolysis. The extractability ratio for NH+4 released on hydrolysis was 1.7 and was significantly (P < 0.01) greater than extractability ratios of hydrolyzable N and amino acid-N. The similarity and high extractability ratios of NH+4 released after fumigation and NO-3-N accumulating during aerobic incubation indicated that the fumigation extracted a biologically meaningful fraction. The biomass was responsible for only 15 to 25% of the net N mineralized during a 12-week incubation. Results indicated that (i) extraction of a highly labeled N pool in soil can only partly explain the source of N being mineralized, (ii) N is mineralized from several pools, and (iii) there is a remote possibility that a single extractant can extract the variety of N compounds undergoing mineralization and immobilization in soil

Sailfin velifer, Velifer hypselopterus Bleeker, 1879 (Perciformes, Veliferidae) in Oman waters: a new substantiated record from the Arabian Sea coast of Oman

The first substantiated records of Sailfin velifer, Velifer hypselopterus Bleeker, 1879 in Omani waters are reported based on 10 specimens ranging in total length 300-430 mm, which have been collected by gill net on the coast of Al-Ashkharah City, 319 km south of Muscat City, Arabian Sea, Oman. Morphometric and meristic data are provided and compared with those of several specimens of this species from other parts of the world. This study reports on the largest specimen of this species ever being collected

Are Sustainability Reports Informative About Firm Value and Performance? A Text Mining Approach

A corporate social responsibility (CSR) report is an important tool for disseminating a company’s sustainability efforts. The informativeness of CSR reports in relation to key performance indicators (KPIs) of companies is not well studied. We define eight different attributes to characterize textual disclosure and identify six topic distributions across 1233 CSR reports submitted by 196 major US firms during 2005-2017. We analyze the association of these attributes and topics with firm performance and firm value using hierarchical Bayesian modeling. Our results show that while multiple topics and textual attributes are related to firm value, only word length is significantly linked to the performance of firms in general. Our study informs firms about best practices in sustainability reporting and notifies investors and regulators about present practices in CSR reporting

Effect of Sago Flour Substitution on Loaf Bread Quality

Sago flour is locally available and reported to have relatively higher fiber and antioxidant contents and lower digestibility than wheat flour. Despite this, sago is still underutilized. This study aimed to compare wheat and sago flours and evaluate the effect of different sago substitution rates (0% to 50%) on bread quality. Physico-chemical properties of the flours were determined together with bread density, texture, color, and consumer preference. Results show that sago flour had significantly higher crude ash, fiber, and amylose contents than wheat flour. It also had higher peak viscosity or water-holding capacity upon heating, but less ability to withstand heating and shear stress. Substitution of wheat flour with sago flour significantly decreased loaf volume (from 615 to 404 mL) and made them denser (from 0.242 to 0.371 g/mL). Except at 10% level of substitution, bread samples with sago flour were significantly firmer than the control. Sago flour is light brown in color; hence, as the substitution level increased, the bread crumb became darker in color. However, this trend was not observed in the color of the bread crust, with the control having a significantly darker crust. Bread samples with more than 10% sago flour had significantly lower preference scores than the control. Using the current formulation for loaf breads, 10% sago substitution is the maximum level before quality significantly decreases. However, future studies can investigate the use of dough improvers with higher substitution rates for bread, as well as trying sago flour on products that do not rely heavily on leavening like crackers or cookies

Development of a Carbonated Guyabano Juice

Soda is said to have “empty calories.” Thus, a healthier carbonated beverage was produced using guyabano, which is rich in vitamins, minerals, and flavonoids. Guyabano syrup was prepared with sugar, water, guyabano juice, and calamansi juice. To optimize the final product, guyabano syrup was mixed with carbonated water in three ratios, namely, 2:17, 3:17, and 4:17. From a preference ranking test, formulations with 3:17 and 4:17 ratio were not significantly different, but the latter was chosen for the succeeding tests based on its low rank sum. A consumer acceptability test showed that panelists “moderately liked” the appearance, taste, and sweetness of the product. On the other hand, aroma, carbonation, and the overall acceptability were “liked very much.” Physicochemical properties of guyabano juice, guyabano syrup, and carbonated guyabano juice were determined. The pure guyabano juice had 4.21 pH, 0.94% malic acid, and 15 °Bx while the guyabano syrup had a pH of 3.97, 0.69% malic acid, and 46.26 °Bx. The pH, TTA (total titratable acidity), and TSS (total soluble solids) of the finished product were 3.80, 0.21%, and 10.37 °Bx, respectively. An antioxidant capacity assay showed that the carbonated guyabano juice had 0.131 mg ascorbic acid equivalent-mL-1. There was no significant change in pH and TTA after one week storage at ambient temperature. However, yeast and mold count significantly increased and TSS significantly decreased. Thus, it is recommended that the developed carbonated guyabano juice be stored at refrigerated temperature or added with a suitable preservative

Kinetic analysis of net nitrogen mineralization in soil

Includes bibliographical references (page 757).Studies were conducted to determine the most suitable mathematical equation and the most appropriate method for calculating the values of the parameters of the equation describing the net N mineralization in soil. The cumulative net N mineralized in two treatments of a 15N labeled soil and five unlabeled Saskatchewan soils showed curvilinear trends that could be fitted to either hyperbolic or first order equations. The kinetic parameters of the hyperbolic equation, 15NH0 (potentially mineralizable N) and Tc (time required for 1/2 NH0 to mineralize) determined by nonlinear least squares (NLLS) yielded the best fit to the data for the labeled soil and had the lowest RMS error. Linear regression (1/N vs 1/t) yielded 15NH0 and Tc values which were markedly different than those obtained with the N vs. N/t and t/N vs. t transformations or those obtained with the NLLS method when all the data were considered. The double reciprocal plot gave undue weight to the initial data points. The 15NH0 estimated by NLLS method accounted for 62 and 72% of the total organic 15N remaining in the two treatments of Weirdale loam soil. The NH0 for Saskatchewan soils ranged from 51 to 429 µg N g−1 soil, while the Tc ranged from 7.3 to 45.8 weeks. The 15NF0 values obtained with the first order equation using NLLS method accounted for 39 to 44% of the total organic 15N remaining in soil. The NF0 values for Saskatchewan soils ranged from 35 to 255 µg N g−1 soil while the values of net mineralization rate constant, k, ranged from 0.036 to 0.164 weeks−1. Both equations accurately predicted the amount of net N mineralized over 14 weeks incubation. However, the estimates of potentially mineralizable N and mineralizable N half-life were dependent upon the model used