Capacity Building In Information And Communication Management (ICM) Towards Food Security

This paper addresses capacity strengthening needs in the area of ICM to support food security initiatives. It fully acknowledges that FS is a state of assuring physical availability and economic accessibility to enough food in terms of quantity (amount, distribution, calories), quality (safe, nutritious, balanced) and cultural acceptability for all people at all times for a healthy and active life. It starts by outlining how ICM can support strategies to ensure availability, access, acceptability, adequacy, and agency and it highlights key information needs in each case. A FS Information and Communication Web is developed basing on a generic conceptual framework of determinants of food security. The web delineates information needs that would support strategies to ensure adequacy of food, stability of supply, and access – physical and economical. The paper then articulates capacity strengthening needs in line with the three dimensions or levels of food security: national, community and household. Four case studies: (i) Uganda’s ICT policy and Food Security (ii) Human Resources needs at community level drawing experiences from Africa and Asia (iii) HR Capacity Development Needs in Africa by the IMF (iv) Audio visual and farmer skills in Mali – serve to demonstrate grassroots ICM applications that support food security initiatives, and in each case it points to theme specific capacity strengthening needs. The studies, as a result, demonstrate how enhanced ICM capacity can support food security through: developing suitable ICT policies, empowering communities with ICM knowledge, improving development planning, enhancing agricultural productivity, supporting marketing systems, improving natural resources management and conservation, and through effective execution of early warning systems – all having implications for food security. The paper concludes by presenting a summary of capacity strengthening needs. These range from sensitization of regional and national policy makers, down to technical skills required by data collectors, analysts and information generators, knowledge disseminators and also knowledge users. To achieve the above the paper proposes roles that may be played by governments, NGOs, education sector, research and development institutions, regional and international organizations, and CTA.Capacity Building, Food Security, ICM, Tanzania

Capacity Building In Information And Communication Management (ICM) Towards Food Security

This paper addresses capacity strengthening needs in the area of ICM to support food security initiatives. It fully acknowledges that FS is a state of assuring physical availability and economic accessibility to enough food in terms of quantity (amount, distribution, calories), quality (safe, nutritious, balanced) and cultural acceptability for all people at all times for a healthy and active life. It starts by outlining how ICM can support strategies to ensure availability, access, acceptability, adequacy, and agency and it highlights key information needs in each case. A FS Information and Communication Web is developed basing on a generic conceptual framework of determinants of food security. The web delineates information needs that would support strategies to ensure adequacy of food, stability of supply, and access – physical and economical. The paper then articulates capacity strengthening needs in line with the three dimensions or levels of food security: national, community and household. Four case studies: (i) Uganda’s ICT policy and Food Security (ii) Human Resources needs at community level drawing experiences from Africa and Asia (iii) HR Capacity Development Needs in Africa by the IMF (iv) Audio visual and farmer skills in Mali – serve to demonstrate grassroots ICM applications that support food security initiatives, and in each case it points to theme specific capacity strengthening needs. The studies, as a result, demonstrate how enhanced ICM capacity can support food security through: developing suitable ICT policies, empowering communities with ICM knowledge, improving development planning, enhancing agricultural productivity, supporting marketing systems, improving natural resources management and conservation, and through effective execution of early warning systems – all having implications for food security. The paper concludes by presenting a summary of capacity strengthening needs. These range from sensitization of regional and national policy makers, down to technical skills required by data collectors, analysts and information generators, knowledge disseminators and also knowledge users. To achieve the above the paper proposes roles that may be played by governments, NGOs, education sector, research and development institutions, regional and international organizations, and CTA

Plasmodium falciparum Genetic Diversity in Western Kenya Highlands

The present study examined the genetic diversity and population structure of Plasmodium falciparum in western Kenya by analyzing the polymorphism of 12 microsatellite loci and two antigen loci. Malaria in highland areas is unstable and epidemic whereas malaria in lowland areas is endemic. Transmission intensity and malaria prevalence are substantially lower in the highlands than in the lowlands. Despite that the highland parasite populations exhibited reduced number of alleles, lower expected heterozygosity, and infection complexity in comparison to the surrounding lowland population, genetic diversity of the highland populations remained high in comparison to parasites from other meso-endemic regions. More than 70% of infections from western Kenya highland study sites were mixed genotype infections. Small but statistically significant genetic differentiation between highland and lowland populations was detected. These findings are discussed in the context of human travel and local transmission in the study area

Molecular epidemiology of drug-resistant malaria in western Kenya highlands

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Since the late 1980s a series of malaria epidemics has occurred in western Kenya highlands. Among the possible factors that may contribute to the highland malaria epidemics, parasite resistance to antimalarials has not been well investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using parasites from highland and lowland areas of western Kenya, we examined key mutations associated with <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>resistance to sulfadoxine – pyrimethamine and chloroquine, including dihydrofolate reductase (<it>pfdhfr</it>) and dihydropteroate synthetase (<it>pfdhps</it>), chloroquine resistance transporter gene (<it>pfcrt</it>), and multi-drug resistance gene 1 (<it>pfmdr1</it>).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that >70% of samples harbored 76T <it>pfcrt </it>mutations and over 80% of samples harbored quintuple mutations (51I/59R/108N <it>pfdhfr </it>and 437G/540E <it>pfdhps</it>) in both highland and lowland samples. Further, we did not detect significant difference in the frequencies of these mutations between symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria volunteers, and between highland and lowland samples.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that drug resistance of malaria parasites in the highlands could be contributed by the mutations and their high frequencies as found in the lowland. The results are discussed in terms of the role of drug resistance as a driving force for malaria outbreaks in the highlands.</p

Entomological aspects and the role of human behaviour in malaria transmission in a highland region of the Republic of Yemen

© 2016 Al-Eryani et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The attached file is the published version of the article

Optimal energy management of smart households with electric vehicles, energy storage and distributed generation

In this thesis, the optimal operation of a neighborhood of smart households in terms of minimizing the total energy cost is analyzed. Each household may comprise several assets such as electric vehicles, controllable appliances, energy storage and distributed generation. Bi-directional power flow is considered for each household . Apart from the distributed generation unit, technological options such as vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid are available to provide energy to cover self-consumption needs and to export excessive energy to other households, respectively

Sources of Technical Efficiency Among Smallholders Maize Farmers in Babati District, Tanzania

Maize yield in Tanzania has been decreasing in the past few years. The decline has been attributed to many factors. This paper assesses production efficiency and its determinants among maize farmers in Babati district. The paper uses data collected from 122 maize farmers residing in six villages in the study district. A stochastic frontier model has been used to determine the sources of inefficiency among maize farmers in the study area. The results show that the mean technical efficiency score for famers in the study area is 62.3%. This implies that there is a significant room for increasing maize yield in the study area if farmers use the resources at their disposal efficiently. Moreover, the results show that the efficiency of maize farmers in the study area is influenced by farm size, formal education, number of plots owned by the farmer, frequency of contacts with extension officers, and the use of insecticides. It is therefore plausible to argue that improving farmers’ access to extension services and important inputs such as insecticides will have a significant influence on maize yield in the study area

Endemism of plants in the Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro, Tanzania

Forest Ecology and Management, 2008; 255 (2008) 2858–2869A survey was conducted to determine richness of Vascular Endemic Plants of the Uluguru Mountains in Morogoro, Tanzania. Strict and near- endemic species were identified and their habits, habitats and altitudinal ranges were indicated. About 108 strict endemic plant species were identified in the Uluguru Mountains. Most of the endemic species are shrubs followed by herbs, trees and climbers, and are confined to the families Rubiaceae (38 species in 11 general), Orchidaceae (13 species in 7 general) and Balsaminaceae (11 species in 1 genus). The major habitat for endemic species is the montane rain forest on the windward side ranging between 1200 and 2450 m a.s.l. The major areas where the Uluguru endemics are concentrated are the forests of Bondwa/Lupanga followed by Lukwangule/Chenzema and then Bunduki and Mgeta. These areas are therefore the major hotspots for the endemism in the Uluguru Mountains. The information presented in this paper will contribute to the conservation and management of the biodiversity of the Uluguru Mountains

Access to credit and its effect on the adoption of agricultural technologies: the case of Zanzibar

Access to credit is among key elements for improving agricultural production and poverty reduction. Credit can facilitate farm households to purchase the needed agricultural inputs and enhance their capacity to effect long-term investment in their farms. Despite this importance, the majority of farm households lacks access to formal credit. This study therefore was conducted in order to create knowledge of the factors that determine access of rural households to formal credit in Zanzibar and to establish the linkages between access to credit and the adoption of agricultural technology under the Zanzibar smallholder farming conditions. Conceptually, access to credit can be influenced by institutional factors and household characteristics. Analyses of factors at the household level is therefore important to design strategic interventions aimed at deepening financial services through rural households in Zanzibar. In conducting this study, both primary and secondary data were collected. The data collection took place between May and June, 2006, covering the five districts of Unguja and Pemba islands. The districts involved in the study were North ‘B’, West and Central (for Unguja island) and Wete and Chake Chake (for Pemba island). In total 750 households were surveyed. Secondary data were collected from relevant institutions, including existing financial institutions. The analysis of data collected was done descriptively as well as econometrically using STATA 10.0 and SPSS 13.0 computer softwares. The main findings of the study suggest that a number of socio-economic factors are important in influencing farm households’ access to formal credit. These factors are: the number of accesses to credit, the possibility of keeping livestock, having a bank account, the value of productive assets owned, household income and the intensity of adoption of agricultural technologies. As regards factors determining farming technologies adoption, extension contacts intensity, household size, number of accesses to credit, and value of productive assets were found to significantly influence the adoption of agricultural technologies. However, with the exception of the number of accesses to credit, these variables were significant only for the non-credit constrained households and not for the credit constrained households. These results suggest the need for targeting credit interventions to farm households who are credit constrained for improving access to credit and the adoption of agricultural technologies.Cette étude a le but d’examiner les facteurs qui déterminent l’accès au crédit formel à Zanzibar et d’établir les liens entre l’accès au crédit et l’adoption de technologie au niveau rural pour les petites familles cultivatrices. L’accès au crédit peut être influencé par des facteurs institutionnels et par les caractéristique de l’unité familiale/ productrice; l’analyse des ces unités est donc importante pour une intensification des services financiers dans les zones rurales à Zanzibar. On a utilisé des donnés primaires et secondaires, entre Mai et Juin 2006 sur cinq districts des îles de Unguja et Pemba; on a interviewé 750 unités tandis que les données secondaires ont été collectées dans les institutions concernées, y inclus les institutions financières. Les résultats suggèrent que plusieurs facteurs socio-économiques influencent l’accès des familles/ unités productives au crédit formel : nombre de fois qu’on a au accès au crédit, la présence de bétail, d’un compte à la banque, la valeur des actifs productifs, le revenu de l’unité et l’intensité de la technologie. Cette dernière, à son tour, est influencée par l’intensité des contacts avec les structures d’appui, la taille de l’unité, le nombre de fois qu’on a eu accès au crédit, la valeur des actifs productifs se sont démontrés significatifs mais, à l’exception de l’intensité d’accès au crédit, ces variables sont significatives seulement pour les unités qui n’ont pas d’empêchements pour l’accès au crédit. Cela suggère une focalisation sur les unités qui ont un accès limité au crédit