Inclusive Agricultural Trade Scan

Refugees and host community living in Arua district in Northern Uganda face health issues related to malnutrition and food insecurity. The Nutrition Income Generation Intervention (NIGI) aimed to achieve healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods for refugees and host communities through home gardens and increasing commercial vegetable production. This report evaluates the effect of two years of NIGI on the refugee community using a refugee comparison group. Results showed that households who participated in the project produce more, both in terms of quantity (KGs) as well as varieties of fruit and vegetables, and earn more income as a result. Those who participate in the project were twice (OR=2.19) as likely to consume vegetables. Furthermore, household dietary diversity increased with an average increase of 0.40 points for crop farmers participating in NIGI. NIGI was not able to reduce the practice of harmful coping strategies against food security. So, NIGI should be seen as a supplement to food access and as a useful strategy to diversify diets but food assistance is still of main importance for refugee households to achieve food security

Modelling of a transmembrane evaporation module for desalination of seawater

Transmembrane evaporation (often called membrane distillation) carried out in a countercurrent flow module, in which incoming cold seawater is heated by the condensing product water flow, is a promising technology for low-cost seawater desalination. This paper presents a model for preliminary design calculations for such a module. The model calculates temperature profiles alongside and across the module, heat and vapour fluxes through the membrane and the total product flow. Mass transfer of the water vapour through the membrane and the air gap is described with molecular diffusion through stagnant air. Estimated properties and constants have been used to calculate the energy transport. Calculations with variable temperatures, membrane fibre diameter and diffusion distance have been performed. From the calculation results can be concluded that the model is able to describe the process of interest in a qualitative way. The calculations indicate that the highest productivity will be obtained with high temperatures, small membrane fibres and a small air gap

5,10-Methenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin, a One-Carbon Carrier in the Process of Methanogenesis

5,10-Methenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin was isolated from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum. The structure of this compound was elucidated by various two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques and confirmed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. The structure of 5,10-methenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin shows one additional carbon atom as compared to the parent compound methanopterin. This additional carbon atom is rapidly labeled in vivo by 13C02. It is shown that 5,10- methenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydromethanopterin is a physiologically active one-carbon carrier at the formyl level of oxidation in the methanogenic pathway from C02

Putting food systems thinking into practice : Integrating agricultural sectors into a multi-level analytical framework

In the wake of the United Nations Food Systems Summit - the first of its kind - practitioners need to capture the abstract concept of the food system and learn how the process of transformation that they engage in contributes to food system outcomes or risk operating in silos. With that aim, we focus on sector analysis, interpreting changes in sector performance as food system outcomes. This makes food systems thinking more actionable. We share an application of the integrated framework in a particular case: rapid assessments of the impact of COVID-19 on the functioning of the horticulture, sesame, and seed sectors across seven low- and middle-income countries. We highlight lessons learned from applying the multi-level integrated framework for putting food systems thinking into practice