Digital Platforms in Climate Information Service Delivery for Farming in Ghana

AbstractPhone-based applications, Internet connectivity, and big data are enabling climate change adaptations. From ICT for development and agriculture perspectives, great interest exists in how digital platforms support climate information provision for smallholder farmers in Africa. The vast majority of these platforms both private and public are for delivering climate information services and for data collection. The sheer number of digital platforms in the climate information sector has created a complex information landscape for potential information users, with platforms differing in information type, technology, geographic coverage, and financing structures and infrastructure. This chapter mapped the existing climate information services and examined their impact on policy and practices in smallholder farming development in Africa, with a focus on Ghana. Specifically, the chapter provides highlights of digital platforms available to smallholder farmers and agricultural extension agents, analyzes the public and/or private governance arrangements that underpin the implementation of digital climate information delivery, and assesses the potential of these platforms in scaling up the use of climate information. The chapter contributes to understanding the dynamics of climate information delivery with digital tools in Africa, and suggests a future research agenda

Women's dietary diversity scores and childhood anthropometric measurements as indices of nutrition insecurity along the urban–rural continuum in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Background: Malnutrition is still prevalent worldwide, and its severity, which differs between regions and countries, has led to international organisations proposing its inclusion in the global development framework that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (post-2015 framework). In Sub-Saharan Africa, malnutrition is particularly severe, among women and children under 5 years. The prevalence of malnutrition has been reported worldwide, differing from region to region and country to country. Nevertheless, little is known about how malnutrition differs between multiple locations along an urban–rural continuum. Objective: A survey was carried out in and around Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, between August and September 2014 to map household nutrition insecurity along the urban–rural continuum, using a transect approach to guide the data collection. Design: Transects of 70 km long and 2 km wide directed radially from the city centre outwards were laid, and data were collected from randomly selected households along these transects. Women's dietary diversity scores (WDDSs) were calculated from a sample of 179 women of reproductive age (15–49 years) from randomly selected households. Additionally, anthropometric data (height/length and weight) of 133 children under 5 years of age were collected along the same transects for the computation of anthropometric indices. Results: We found that relative proportions of the nutrition indices such as stunting, wasting and underweight varied across the urban–rural continuum. Rural households (15%) had the highest relative proportion of WDDS compared with urban households (11%) and periurban households (8%). There was a significant association between children under 5 years’ nutritional status (wasting, stunting and underweight) and spatial location (p=0.023). The level of agricultural activities is a possible indicator of wasting in children aged 6–59 months (p=0.032). Conclusion: Childhood undernutrition certainly has a spatial dimension that is highly influenced by the degree of urbanity, which should be taken into consideration in policy formulation and implementation

Bangladesh: natural disaster risk management

Bangladesh with impressive gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates for over a decade is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Yet, Bangladesh is also considered one of the most disaster-prone countries. Floods, cyclones and storm surge, tornadoes, drought, erosion, landslide and earthquakes are regular phenomena that have created a massive impact on the economic well-being and welfare of the people. This chapter aims to (i) revisit key natural disasters and their associated issues in Bangladesh, (ii) examine institutional and regulatory frameworks as well as measures to manage disasters, including pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery and (iii) assess the current initiatives to manage disasters against the three-sector governance model, including government, the private sector and civil society. The chapter also includes some policy and technical recommendations to enhance the state of disaster risk management (DRM) in the country

Effects Of Cadmium And Zinc Ions On Purified Lamb Kidney Cortex Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Activity

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) is the first enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway. Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that inhibits several enzymes. Zinc is an essential metal but overdoses of zinc have toxic effects on enzyme activities. In this study G-6-PD from lamb kidney cortex was competitively inhibited by zinc both with respect to glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P) and NADP(+) with Ki values of 1.066 +/- 0.106 and 0.111 +/- 0.007 mM respectively whereas cadmium was a non-competitive inhibitor with respect to both G-6-P and NADP+ Ki values of 2.028 +/- 0.175 and 2.044 +/- 0.289 mM respectively.WoSScopu