Unlocking the potential of contract farming: lessons from Ghana

This paper analyses sorghum contract farming in north-east Ghana in order to explore ways of making such arrangements viable for small farmers. The analysis draws on the convergence of sciences approach, which sees both science and social relations (interactions among the relevant stakeholders) as important for developing small farmer-relevant agricultural innovations (technology, procedures, new forms of organisation). The study reveals that the failure and problems encountered in this particular contracting scheme were both technical and institutional. The technical issues were a combination of pest problems, the environment and the sorghum variety chosen. The institutional issues involved the contractual arrangements and relations between the contracting parties. The authors argue that if contracts are to be fair, they must allow for compensation, contingencies and production risks. But scientific knowledge is required in order to adequately incorporate these elements

Sociocultural considerations in aging men's health: implications and recommendations for the clinician

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2009.07.00

Morphological and agronomic characterization of some tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) germplasm in Ghana

In a study of morphological and agronomic characteristics of eight tomato accessions, a high variability was detected in plant height at flowering, fruit set, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, number of locules per fruit, and yield. The variation in percent total soluble solids (3.9-5.0) and pH (3.9-4.4) was very small. The pH of the fruits in most of the accessions was close to 4.0 which is suitable for canning; however, the total soluble solids was below the 8 per cent required for canning. All of the accessions were highly sensitive to the high temperatures (28.6-32.2 oC) which prevailed during the period, resulting in low percentage fruit set (21.9-63.7). The overall correlations between number of fruits per plant, number of fruits per truss, fruit weight and yield were positive but very low (0.12-0.26). Some individual accessions, however, showed very high positive correlations between number of fruits per plant and yield (0.76-0.86) and number of fruits per truss and yield (r=0.63-0.89). The cultivar Wosowoso had a high negative correlation (-0.67) between number of fruits per truss and yield. Ghana Jnl agric Sci. Vol.32(2) 1999: 169-17

A cultural research approach to instrument development: the case of breast and cervical cancer screening among Latino and Anglo women

To illustrate the implementation of a bottom-up approach to the study of culture in health disparities, this article describes the development of a cultural cancer screening scale (CCSS) using mixed methodologies. The aim was to identify cultural factors relevant to breast and cervical cancer screening, develop an instrument to assess them and examine its preliminary psychometric properties among Latin American (Latino) and non-Latino White (Anglo) women in Southern California. Seventy-eight Latino and Anglo women participated in semi-structured interviews, which were content coded based on Triandis' methods for the analysis of subjective culture. Based on the emerging cultural elements, items relevant to cancer screening were developed and pilot tested with 161 participants. After the instrument was refined, 314 Latino and Anglo women from various socioeconomic backgrounds completed the CCSS and data were factor analyzed resulting in five cultural factors: cancer screening fatalism, negative beliefs about health professionals, catastrophic disease expectations, symptomatic deterrents and sociocultural deterrents. The instrument demonstrated measurement equivalence, adequate reliability and predictive validity. The research and the CCSS are discussed in terms of implications for the study of culture in relation to health disparities and the development of evidence-based interventions with culturally diverse populations and their health professionals