NH Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Laboratories Shellfish Program 2005

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has continued to carry out various actions providing laboratory analyses for the routine water quality monitoring, “Red Tide” monitoring, and additional testing after rainfall, excess sewage treatment plant, and emergency events. Also, a validation study was performed using non-EPA funds to compare results between the traditional Paralytic Shellfish Poison bioassay and a newer developed test allowed for screening use

NH Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Laboratories Shellfish Program Activities January 2005 - December 2005

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has continued to carry out various actions providing laboratory analyses for the routine water quality monitoring, “Red Tide” monitoring, and additional testing after rainfall, excess sewage treatment plant, and emergency events. Also, a validation study was performed using non-EPA funds to compare results between the traditional Paralytic Shellfish Poison bioassay and a newer developed test allowed for screening use

Laboratory Analyses of Water and Shellfish from Coastal Waters and Watershed of New Hampshire

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has participated in providing laboratory analyses as part of the National Estuary Program since it’s inception in New Hampshire in 1995. The NHPHL has continued to carry out various actions dealing with the monitoring program as listed in the NH Estuaries Project Management Plan. Introduction: The NHPHL implemented selected actions from the NH Estuaries Project Management Plan and Year Six workplan to help address the environmental problems affecting the state’s estuarine systems

Laboratory Analyses of Water and Shellfish from Coastal Waters and Watershed of New Hampshire, Finnigan

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has participated in providing laboratory analyses as part of the National Estuary Program since it’s inception in New Hampshire in 1995. The NHPHL has continued to carry out various actions dealing with the monitoring program as listed in the NH Estuaries Project Management Plan

Key Challenges and Options Confronting Smallholder, Agribusiness and Government Leaders in Zambia's Cotton Sector

This policy brief highlights some of the key messages contained in the full report. However the problems and opportunities facing the industry are very complex, and cannot be easily summarized in this brief. Hence one goal of this policy brief is to encourage interested parties to obtain, review and debate the full study. A second objective of this brief is to highlight the strategic industry development questions and proposals identified in the study that require debate and follow up actions.food security, food policy, Zambia, cotton, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Q18,

Measuring the Impacts of Prime-age Adult Death on Rural Households in Kenya

Using a two-year panel of 1,422 Kenyan households surveyed in 1997 and 2000, we measure how primeage adult mortality affects rural households’ size and composition, agricultural production, asset levels, and off-farm income. First, the paper uses adult mortality rates from available data on an HIV-negative sample from neighboring Tanzania to predict the number of deaths that might have been expected in the absence of HIV, and compares this to the number of deaths actually recorded over the survey interval in the Kenyan sample. Based on this procedure, only a quarter of the prime-age female deaths in the 25-34 age range and about half of the male deaths in the 35-44 year age range age range could have been predicted on the basis of the HIV-negative Tanzanian adult mortality rates. In the Nyanza area, the discrepancies were even larger over a broader number of age/sex ranges. This provides a strong indication that AIDS accounts for a large proportion of the recorded deaths for these age/sex categories, particularly in the Nyanza area. Next, using a household fixed-effects model that controls for time-varying effects, we measure changes in outcomes between households afflicted by adult mortality vs. those not afflicted over the three-year survey period. The effects of adult death are highly sensitive to the gender and position of the deceased family member in the household. Households suffering the death of the head -of-household or spouse incurred a greater-than-one person loss in household size. The death of a male household head between 16 and 59 years is associated with a 68% reduction in the net value of the household’s crop production. However, these results are sensitive to age ranges chosen. Female head-of-household or spouse mortality causes a greater decline in cereal area cultivated, while cash crops such as coffee, tea, and sugar are most adversely affected in households incurring the death of a prime-age male head. Off-farm income is also significantly affected by the death of the male head of household, but not in the case of other adult members. The death of other prime-age family members is partially offset by an inflow of other individuals into the family. Other prime-age family members’ mortality has less dramatic effects on the households’ agricultural production, assets, and off-farm income. Lastly, there is little indication that households are able to recover quickly from the effects of prime-age head-of-household adult mortality; the effects on crop and non-farm incomes do not decay at least over the three-year survey interval. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for agricultural research and extension programs as well as for safety net programs designed to cushion the impacts of prime-age adult death.HIV/AIDS, Kenya, agricultural production, adult death, Health Economics and Policy, Q18,

What Kind of Agricultural Strategies Lead to Broad-Based Growth: Implications For Country-Led Agricultural Investment Programs

Without renewed attention to sustained agricultural productivity growth, most small farms in developing countries will become increasingly unviable economic and social units. Sustained agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction will require progress on a number of fronts, most importantly increased public goods investments to agriculture; a policy environment that supports private investment in input, output, and financial markets and provision of key support services; a more level global trade policy environment; supportive donor programs; and improved governance. Subsidies, if they are focused, appropriately conceived, effectively implemented, and temporary, can play a complementary role but should not – based on both the Asian and African evidence presented here – be seen as the primary engine of growth. Most of these challenges can be met through country-led agricultural investment strategies that mobilize the political will to adopt the policies and public investments which substantial evidence demonstrates have the greatest chances of 5 driving sustainable pro-poor agricultural growth.Agricultural strategies, investment programs, Feed The Future, Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty,

Toward a Research Agenda to Promote Household Access to Food in Ethiopia

The objective of this report is to review available evidence on the potential to promote access to food for vulnerable groups in Ethiopia through two main methods: food transfer programs, and appropriate policies influencing the food marketing system. These issues are examined with a view to identifying priority issues for analysis under the MEDAC/MSU/USAID Food Security Project in Ethiopia. In particular, the report presents trends in food aid and food production in Ethiopia, and provides preliminary evidence of the possible disincentive effects of food aid on agricultural production incentives and investments in the food marketing system; discusses the costs and benefits of various food aid transfer programs, and highlights major unresolved issues requiring further analysis to guide Ethiopian policy makers' decisions on strategies to promote household food security; presents a set of "guiding principles" to minimize the trade-offs between meeting vulnerable groups' immediate food needs and promoting agricultural productivity growth over the long run; and identifies important unresolved issues for further analysis, in order to guide Ethiopian policy makers' decisions on ensuring household access to food through an appropriate mix of market and transfer mechanisms.food security, food policy, Ethiopia, food aid, food production, Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q18,

Working-age Adult Mortality and Primary Sschool Attendance in Rural Kenya

The rapid increase in adult mortality due to the AIDS epidemic in sub- Saharan Africa raises great concern about its impact on child welfare. This article estimates the impact of AIDS-related adult mortality on primary school attendance in rural Kenya using a panel of 1,266 households surveyed in 1997, 2000, and 2002. We find a strong correlation between working-age adult mortality and lagged HIV- prevalence rates at nearby sentinel survey sites. School attendance, especially for children in relatively poor households, is negatively correlated with lagged provincial HIV-prevalence rates. Children, especially girls in relatively poor households, are less likely to be in school directly prior to the death of an adult member than children in unafflicted households. By contrast, boys in relatively poor households are less likely to be in school after an adult death. The evidence indicates that rising adult mortality in rural Kenya is adversely affecting primary school attendance especially among the poor. However, these results measure only short-term impacts. Over the longer run, whether school attendance in afflicted household rebounds or deteriorates further is unknown.HIV/AIDS, Education, Kenya

Private sector responses to public investments and policy reforms: The case of fertilizer and maize market development in Kenya

millions fed, food security, Fertilizer, maize, Liberalization market,