Physical distancing and risk of COVID-19 in small-scale fisheries: a remote sensing assessment in coastal Ghana

The novel coronavirus is predicted to have dire implications on global food systems including fisheries value chains due to restrictions imposed on human movements in many countries. In Ghana, food production, both agriculture and fisheries, is exempted from restrictions as an essential service. The enforcement of COVID-19 prevention protocols, particularly social distancing, has been widely reported in Ghana's agricultural markets whereas casual observations and media reports on fish landing sites suggest no such enforcements are in place. This study aimed to provide sound scientific evidence as a basis for informed policy direction and intervention for the artisanal fishing sector in these challenging times. We employed an unmanned aerial vehicle in assessing the risk of artisanal fishers to the pandemic using physical distancing as a proxy. From analysis of cumulative distribution function (G-function) of the nearest-neighbour distances, this study underscored crowding at all surveyed fish landing beaches, and identified potential "hotspots" for disease transmission. Aerial measurements taken at times of peak landing beach activity indicated that the highest proportion of people, representing 56%, 48%, 39% and 78% in Elmina, Winneba, Apam and Mumford respectively, were located at distances of less than one metre from their nearest neighbour. Risk of crowding was independent of the population at the landing beaches, suggesting that all categories of fish landing sites along the coast would require equal urgency and measured attention towards preventing and mitigating the spread of the disease

Parenting practices and family relationships during the COVID-19 lockdown in Ghana

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far reaching across almost every sphere of life. Families, which are the basic units of society, have not been spared the ravages of the pandemic. Changes in family daily routines as a result of COVID-19 can affect spousal relationships, parenting and childcare practices. However, the extent to which the pandemic has affected parenting practices and family relationships in Ghana is not known. The goal of this study was to assess how parenting practices and family relationships have been influenced during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. Data for this paper was drawn from an online questionnaire response from 463 participants in Ghana as a subset analysis from a multi-country study on personal and family coping system with COVID-19 pandemic in the global south. The mean score for pre-COVID-19 relationship with partner (36.86) was higher (p<0.0001) than the mean score for during COVID-19 relationship with partner (35.32) indicating that COVID-19 has had negative influence on relationships. The mean score for pre-COVID-19 parenting (32.78) was higher (p<0.0001) compared to the mean score for during COVID-19 parenting (31.40) indicating negative influence on parenting. We have predicted that participants whose coping levels were “Well” on the average, are likely to be doing well in relationship with partners and parenting practices during the COVID-19 period The challenging public health containment measures of the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively influenced the relationship between partners and parenting practices in Ghana

Estimating okra leaf area index using unmanned aerial vehicle imagery

The study aimed at estimating the leaf area index of okra using vegetative indices obtained by analysing image data obtained from a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Ghana. Additionally, the work also assessed which of the two indices commonly used (excess green (ExG) and normalized green-red difference index (NGRDI) ) gave a better estimation of leaf area indices. The study was conducted in Cape Coast in southern Ghana at the experimental site located on the University of Cape Coast’s Teaching and Research Farm. The experiment was arranged in a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments (2cm, 3cm, 5cm and 7cm sowing depths) and four replicate blocks. This resulted in sixteen (16) plots each measuring 3 m by 3m. Overall, it was realized that sowing okra seeds at 3cm depth gave best prediction of the best leaf area index (R2&gt; 76 for both indices) . Also, comparing the vegetative indices, the ExG gave a better regression(R2&gt;0.0.65) compared to NGRDI (R2&gt; 0.43). This suggests a recommended sowing depth 3cm) for okra and a good image-based vegetative index (ExG) for estimating leaf area index

Every farmer is a farmer? : A critical analysis of the emergence and development of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana

Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmerbased policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through analysis of organizational documents and an extensive open-ended focus group interview with PFAG's founders, long-term members, and current staff, we discuss how PFAG managed to overcome the "liability of newness" faced by new organizations, and how its resulting organizational structure influences its modes of resource mobilization and thus type and coverage of its advocacy and service delivery activities. Considering this developmental narrative, we elaborate several challenges that PFAG faces in pursuit of its ambitions to expand its influence in Ghanaian agricultural policy and practice. Our findings indicate the need for PFAG to address emerging contradictions in project activities and uneven geographical coverage, manage tensions between advocacy and service delivery objectives and to work towards establishing an umbrella agenda capable of providing for the diverse and evolving needs of their membership base

Access to improved water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa in a quarter century

The realization of the scale, magnitude, and complexity of the water and sanitation problem at the global level has compelled international agencies and national governments to increase their resolve to face the challenge. There is extensive evidence on the independent effects of urbanicity (rural-urban environment) and wealth status on access to water and sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa. However, our understanding of the joint effect of urbanicity and wealth on access to water and sanitation services across spatio-temporal scales is nascent. In this study, a pooled regression analysis of the compositional and contextual factors that systematically vary with access to water and sanitation services over a 25-year time period in fifteen countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was carried out. On the whole, substantial improvements have been made in providing access to improved water sources in SSA from 1990 to 2015 unlike access to sanitation facilities over the same period. Households were 28.2 percent and 125.2 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources in 2000–2005 and 2010–2015 respectively, than in 1990–1995. Urban rich households were 329 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources compared with the urban poor. Although access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 69 percent in 1990–1995 and 74 percent in 2000–2005 it declined significantly to 53 percent in 2010–2015. Urban rich households were 227 percent more likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities compared with urban poor households. These results were mediated and attenuated by biosocial, socio-cultural and contextual factors and underscore the fact that the challenge of access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa is not merely scientific and technical but interwoven with environment, culture, economics and human behaviour necessitating the need for interdisciplinary research and policy interventions

Synergistic and additive effects of microplastic, nickel and pyrene on survival, reproduction, and egestion of a tropical copepod

Coastal tropical ecosystems provide livelihood for millions of people but are at the same time exposed to an increasing intensity of diverse anthropogenic stressors, including pollution. Nevertheless, the combined effects of pollutants on marine ecosystems are poorly understood, particularly regarding lower trophic levels (plankton) and tropical ocean. We exposed the tropical copepod Centropages velificatus to 4-5 concentrations of a heavy metal (nickel), an oil compound (pyrene) and microplastic (PET), either alone or in combination, and measured their egestion, reproduction, and mortality rates. Microplastic alone did not have any effect on pellet or egg production of copepods, whereas nickel reduced egg production rate at concentrations ≥ 1 µg L−1 and pyrene reduced both egg and pellet production rates at concentrations ≥ 1 nM. The addition of nickel and pyrene to PET - microplastic resulted in a reduction similar to one caused by nickel or pyrene alone, suggesting an additive effect. In contrast, a combination of nickel and pyrene had a synergistic effect, with a strong reduction in survival, egg and pellet production. Our results suggest that combinations of contaminants that are commonly found in tropical coastal waters have detrimental effects on copepods – the crucial link in the pelagic food web – at lower concentrations than suggested by single stressor studies. This can have an influence on the food web productivity - the basis of fisheries that local communities rely on