Mobile phone use by small-scale farmers: a potential to transform production and marketing in Zimbabwe

Smallholder farmers are major contributors of horticultural produce. Women’s contribution is noteworthy. Meeting market demand on time and avoiding market ‘floods’ is a challenge among communal farmers, leading to post harvest losses partly due to lack of information and uninformed decision making. Mobile phones have potential to connect farmers to markets, close the information gap and enable informed decisions. Currently most farmers target a few markets leading to market ‘floods’, low prices and fresh produce deterioration while some potential markets remain untapped. A survey conducted in 2015 covering 131 farmers in Svosve-Wenimbi, Marondera district of Mashonaland East province in Zimbabwe evaluated mobile phone ownership and use in farming; and its potential in transforming production and marketing. High literacy and mobile phone ownership of 95.32% and 94.45% respectively was reported, with 16% already accessing advisory services over mobile phone. 51.1% utilised various mobile phone services including accessing market information on inputs and produce, advisory services, weather data, mobile phone money transfers for transaction and crop insurance. By using mobile phones farmers made informed decisions and saved time and transport cost. Mobile phone ICT can promote better production, marketing, food security and livelihoods and more farmers may adopt the technology.Keywords: small holder agriculture, marketing, mobile phones, women, Zimbabwe, extension implication

Genomic-based-breeding tools for tropical maize improvement

Maize has traditionally been the main staple diet in the Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and widely grown by millions of resource poor small scale farmers. Approximately, 35.4 million hectares are sown to tropical maize, constituting around 59% of the developing worlds. Tropical maize encounters tremendous challenges besides poor agro-climatic situations with average yields recorded <3 tones/hectare that is far less than the average of developed countries. On the contrary to poor yields, the demand for maize as food, feed, and fuel is continuously increasing in these regions. Heterosis breeding introduced in early 90 s improved maize yields significantly, but genetic gains is still a mirage, particularly for crop growing under marginal environments. Application of molecular markers has accelerated the pace of maize breeding to some extent. The availability of array of sequencing and genotyping technologies offers unrivalled service to improve precision in maize-breeding programs through modern approaches such as genomic selection, genome-wide association studies, bulk segregant analysis-based sequencing approaches, etc. Superior alleles underlying complex traits can easily be identified and introgressed efficiently using these sequence-based approaches. Integration of genomic tools and techniques with advanced genetic resources such as nested association mapping and backcross nested association mapping could certainly address the genetic issues in maize improvement programs in developing countries. Huge diversity in tropical maize and its inherent capacity for doubled haploid technology offers advantage to apply the next generation genomic tools for accelerating production in marginal environments of tropical and subtropical world. Precision in phenotyping is the key for success of any molecular-breeding approach. This article reviews genomic technologies and their application to improve agronomic traits in tropical maize breeding has been reviewed in detail

Prevalence and Correlates of Smokeless Tobacco Use Among Grade 8-11 School Students in South Africa: A Nationwide Study

Introduction: Smokeless tobacco in South Africa is commonly used in the form of snuff or chewing tobacco. This paper reports its use among secondary school students and provides evidence of its association with demographic characteristics, tobacco smoking, and socioeconomic status. Methods: Data were derived from a nationally representative study conducted in 2008 among 10,270 grade 8-11 students from 192 schools in South Africa. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaires. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine correlates of past-month smokeless tobacco use. Results: Nationally, 12.4% of students used smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco or snuff in the month preceding the survey, with significantly higher rates among males (13.6%) than females (10.6%). Smokeless tobacco use differed between racial groups, with African (12.8%) and colored (11.7%) students having the highest rates of past-month use. Grade 8 students (15.3%) reported significantly higher rates of use than grade 11 students (9.1%). Current cigarette smokers (21.3%) reported a higher prevalence of smokeless tobacco use than noncurrent smokers (10.1%). Logistic regression of past-month smokeless tobacco use showed significant associations with race, grade, school socioeconomic level, urbanicity, current cigarette smoking, and having first smoked a cigarette before the age of 10 years. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence for policy makers and program developers to develop targeted and tailored interventions for young people regarding smokeless tobacco use

Does the type of treatment supporter influence tuberculosis treatment outcomes in Zimbabwe? [Short communication]

Zimbabwe is one of the world’s 22 high tuberculosis(TB) burden countries, and ⩾60% of its TB patients are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).1 In 2010, the treatment success rate for new sputum smear-positive TB patients was 81%, lower than the 90% rate recommended by the new Global Plan to Stop TB.The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Stop TB strategy recommends supervised treatment and support,including direct observation of treatment (DOT), ensuring that every dose of medication is swallowed under observation. The Zimbabwean National TB Guidelines recommend that DOT should be provided, in order of priority, by a health facility-based worker, a trained community worker or a family member/relative as a last resort, with the belief that untrained family members/relatives might not be the best people to perform DOT. However, health facility-based DOT may be challenging due to distances travelled by patients,time spent away from home/work and transport costs.Studies in Thailand, Nepal, Malawi and Tanzania have shown that family- or community-based DOT is associated with good treatment outcomes.There is no published information on whether TB treatment outcomes are infl uenced by different types of DOT supporter in Zimbabwe. We therefore conducted this study in a district of Zimbabwe to describe 1) the number and proportions of registered TB patients receiving different types of DOT in relation to baseline characteristics and 2) the association of different types of DOT with TB treatment outcomes

Increased Sensitization of Health Workers Leading to Detection of Unintended Cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis: A Case of a “Konzo” Outbreak in Western Zambia

Background: The threat of high profile diseases causing outbreaks has drawn attention to public health surveillance systems, much needed for the timely detection of outbreaks. A disease characterized by weakness of the lower limbs in Luatembo rural health facility was reported to the province in 2013. Through the Acute Flaccid Paralysis surveillance (AFP) program the Western Province in Zambia recorded an increase in the numbers of people affected with spastic paraparesis. The disease affected clusters of families, especially women and children. The disease was found to be in specific geographic areas, with the initial cases being identified in Mongu district followed by Luampa and Senanga districts. Surveillance for a particular disease condition may sometimes lead to detection of a related or unrelated condition. This study aims to assess the sensitivity of the Acute Flaccid Paralysis surveillance program surveillance program to detect other diseases of public health importance using the suspected 'Konzo' outbreak in Western Province as a case study.Methods: Through the surveillance system and medical records review, patients with spastic paraparesis were identified and brought for clinical examination to selected health facilities. A team of specialists comprising of an infectious disease specialist and neurologist, supported by physiotherapists, epidemiologist, surveillance officers and laboratory scientists comprehensively investigated the cases. To improve the diagnosis a detailed case investigation form and checklist were used to capture clinical data and socio demographic information. Laboratory investigations included routine urine microscopy and full blood count. Further analysis inc luded viral analysis for enteroviruses , cytomegalovirus among others, copper levels and thiocyanate levels.Results: Preliminary laboratory results indicated no viral infections. Thiocyanate and copper levels are yet to be analysed.Discussion: As a result of the increased sensitization of health workers and communities, more cases were reported in other parts of Western Province, namely Luampa and Senanga districts. All the cases were detected through active surveillance for AFP. This study indicates a potential role for integrating AFP surveillance with other notifiable diseases within the integrated disease surveillance and response for early notification of unusual events in the community and community involvement to foster health seeking behaviors.Conclusion: This paper reflects on the role of AFP surveillance in integrated disease surveillance and response that resulted in the detection of an uncommon spastic paralysis 'Konzo' disease in Mongu, Western Province