The Effect of Developed-Country Pesticide Standards on Health and Pesticide-Induced Morbidity of Kenya's Green Bean Family Farmers

This paper examines the effects of compliance with developed country pesticide standards (DC-PS) on pesticide-related health costs and morbidity of developing country fresh vegetable growers. DC-PS require that farmers i) only use approved pesticides (usually less toxic to humans than ones used before), ii) apply pesticides only when pest scouting reveals the need to do so, and iii) handle, use, store and dispose off pesticides in ways that do not pose health threats to farm workers and farm family members. This paper uses survey regression to estimate a model of health costs of pesticide exposure (based on cost of illness approach) and survey poisson regression to estimate a model for use of protective devices. It finds that compliance with DC-PS reduces health costs of pesticide exposure and increases the use of protective devices. The findings imply that DC-PS have health benefits to developed country fresh export vegetable growers beyond acknowledged premium market access and therefore provide an opportunity for governments to partner with fresh produce exporters to promote safe use, storage and disposal of pesticides.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Intestinal intussusception in an adult caused by helminthic parasitosis

Intestinal intussusception is an uncommon acute condition in adults and is most commonly caused by an intestinal tumor mass. Helminthic parasitosis is a widespread infection in Africa, and the load of worms is often high in individuals living in areas with inadequate sanitation. We report a case of intestinal obstruction caused by Ascaris lumbricoides infection, which was complicated by ileo-caecal intussusception and required surgical treatment in a 40-year-old Ugandan woman. This case reinforces the importance of anthelminthic prophylaxis in African rural areas

Collective action in space: assessing how collective action varies across an African landscape

This paper develops and applies a new approach for analyzing the spatial aspects of individual adoption of a technology that produces a mixed public-private good. The technology is an animal insecticide treatment called a “pouron” that individual households buy and apply to their animals. Private benefits accrue to households whose animals are treated, while the public benefits accrue to all those who own animals within an area of effective suppression. A model of household demand for pourons is presented. As a private good, household demand for the variable input depends upon output price, input cost, and household characteristics. Input costs for pouron treatments include both the market price of the pourons and the transaction costs that the household must incur to obtain the treatments. Demand also depends upon the way that each household expects its neighbors to respond to one's own behavior. Free-riding is expected in communities with no tradition or formal organization to support collective action. Greater cooperation is expected in communities that have organizations that reward cooperative behavior and punish deviant behavior. Data for estimation of the model were collected for all of the 5,000 households that reside within the study area of 350 square kilometers in southwest Ethiopia. Geographic reference data were collected for every household using portable Geographic Positioning System units. GIS software was used to generate spatial variables. Variables for distance from the household to the nearest treatment center and number of cattle-owning neighbors within a 1-kilometer radius of the household were created. The density of cattle-owning neighbors was used as a measure of the potential benefits from cooperation; this variable was expected to have a positive effect on household pouron demand in communities able to support effective collective action and a negative effect in communities not able to support effective collective action. A set of community binary variables was interacted with the density variable to capture differences between communities. The results confirm the importance of the household-level variables. The results also indicate large differences in ability to cooperate between local administrative units. Everything else equal, the areas least able to cooperate were located farthest from the treatment center, were ethnically heterogenous, and had a different ethnic composition than areas around the treatment centers.

Overview of groundnuts research in Uganda: Past, present and future

The Groundnut Department at National Semi-Arid Research Resources Institute (NaSARRI) is mandated to conduct research on groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea L) in Uganda. It undertakes research aimed at cultivar development, maintenance and conservation through germplasm collection, characterization, evaluation, breeding, maintenance and generation of appropriate crop management technologies for sustained production. Most of the varieties traditionally grown by farmers in Uganda are landraces adapted more for survival than yield. Yields from such varieties average 800 kg/ha of dry pods yet yields of 3,000kg/ha have been achieved from on-station plots. Yields per hectare are low, because of a combination of factors such as unreliable rains, mostly non-irrigated cultures, traditional small-scale farming with little mechanization, outbreaks of pest infestations and diseases, the use of low-yielding seed varieties and increased and/or continued cultivation on marginal land. Political instability and the frequently unsupportive oilseed policies have also played their role in low groundnut productivity. Therefore, there is excellent potential for yield improvement. Research efforts have, since the 1920s, endeavored to breed varieties that are high yielding, resistant to major pests and diseases, tolerant to drought, high in oil content and have a short to medium maturity period, as well as to develop appropriate production packages. These efforts have resulted in the release of 14 varieties, the most recent being Igola-1, Serenut 1R, Serenut 2T, Serenut 3R and Serenut 4T. These varieties have helped to alleviate some of the production problems listed above. However, the market and field stability of those varieties, in light of emerging stresses, calls for continuous research while at the same time keeping crop improvement, quality and safety linked to practical applications. Emerging issues like aflatoxin, leafminers and biotechnology need to be addressed and incorporated into the research agenda. Deployment of novel breeding approaches like molecular breeding to complement conventional breeding would increase the efficiency of cultivar development. Additionally, to maintain or increase market share, producers and exporters need to adapt the type of groundnuts being cultivated to consumer requirements.Key words: Arachis, Breeding NaSARRI, Uganda

Trichinella spiralis infestation complicating open reduction and internal fixation for closed fracture femur

Trichinella Spiralis infestation complicating internally fixed fracture has not been reported. We report a case of trichinella spiralis infestation complicating a closed fracture of femur that was managed by open reduction and internal fixation using Kuntcher nail resulting into non-union

Post-operative nausea and vomiting at Mulago Hospital

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are among the most common adverse events related to surgery and anaesthesia and despite modern anaesthetic and surgical techniques the incidence of PONV remains at 20-30%. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with postoperative nausea and vomiting.Methods: This was a prospective study. Precoded data were analyzed and for categorical variables data were summarized as proportions and presented using tables, histograms and pie charts. Continuous variables were analyzed by separating means using independent samples T-test. In the univariate analysis, Odds ratio together with 95% confidence interval was calculated to test for the association between the possible risk factors and outcome variables. Multivariate analysis was done using logistic regression model to determine prognostic factors of postoperative nausea and vomiting.Results: One hundred eighty two patients aged 10 years and above met the inclusion criteria. They had fasted 6 hours prior to the operation and undergone both general anaesthesia and surgery. Patients who had medical and surgical conditions that led to nausea and vomiting were excluded. 53% of the patients were males and 43% were females. The prevalence of PONV was 40.7% within 24 hours after surgery. Factors that were statistically significantly (p value < 0.05) associated with PONV following univariate analysis included : age group 20 to 30 years, female gender, history of PONV, intra-operative use of Pethidine, type of operation (orthopaedic surgery) and postoperative use of Pethidine. Independent predictors of PONV include; age group of 20 to 30 years, history of PONV, and the type of operation.Conclusion: Predictors of PONV within 24 hours include age group of 20 to 30 years, history of PONV and the orthopaedic surgery

Raising awareness for potential sustainability effects in Uganda: A survey-based empirical study

Copyright © 2019 for this paper by its authors. In July 2019, we ran the 3rd International BRIGHT summer school for Software Engineering and Information Systems at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The participants developed a group project over the course of the week, which included the application of the Sustainability Awareness Framework. The framework promotes discussion on the impact of software systems on sustainability based on a set of questions. In this paper, we present the educational evaluation of the Sustainability Awareness Framework in a country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that the framework can provide supportive guidance of the societal and environmental challenges in the given context

Framework for analyzing the role of ICT on agricultural commercialization and household food security

This paper develops a framework for analysing the link between ICT application in smallholder agriculture, household commercialization, and food security. Lack of market information exacerbates the problem of low-level equilibrium poverty that locks smallholder producers into subsistence production where they typically trade in low volumes. The paper examines the effectiveness of ICT-based market information systems on smallholder market linkages in a broader context that encompasses, among others, different cultures, commodities, and farmer types. Investment in physical infrastructure and in providing access to inputs/assets that farmers need in order to facilitate the use of such information services is important

Assessment of farmers’ willingness to pay for quality seed using dynamic auctions: The case of smallholder potato growers in Tanzania.

Irish potato is an important income and food security crop in many sub-Sahara Africa countries (SSA). However, the neglect of the potato Irish potato industry and failure of privatization to spur investment in seed potato production stifled the industry. Hence farmers have been forced to recycle seed, resulting in quality degradation and, in some cases resulting in up to 66-75% yield, and hence income, declines. The recent global food price swings has led to renewed interest in developing potato subsector in most producing SSA countries. One intervention by SSA governments has been in trying break the quality seed bottleneck by investing in generation of quality seed. Such investment involve construction of state of the art seed production labs to clean degraded seed and evaluate imported seed, on-station and on-farm testing, and promotion smallholder seed production. This study uses data collected from Tanzania to examine farmers’ willingness to pay such seed. Since 2009, Tanzania government has heavily invested in developing seed potato industry jointly with international and national research organization through donor support