Digitally: Piloting offline payments for phones

Mobile payments support a range of services in many less developed countries including everyday payments, migrant remittances, credit, tax collection, and welfare benefits. These services depend entirely on the mobile phone network as their carrier, so they stop where the network does. This leaves millions of the very poorest people stranded - people living in remote areas where there is little to no network service. It also leaves urban users at the mercy of network congestion. We developed a prototype system, DigiTally, which lets users make offline payments by copying short strings of digits from one mobile handset to another. Offline payments are already used for electricity (both in prepayment meters and pay-as-you-go solar); can we extend them into a general-purpose payment system, to increase service resilience in the face of network congestion or outage, and provide service to currently excluded areas? We report the results of a preliminary study with an early prototype of DigiTally, tested on participants from a university in Nairobi (Kenya). The code-sharing process presented a possible usability challenge. To explore this and other aspects of an early prototype, DigiTally was introduced to Kenyan participants in order to resolve any major issues before a later field trial. We discuss the lessons learned from our field visits and initial evaluation; we hope that this contribution is helpful for researchers and policy makers interested in mobile payments and financial inclusion. We also present our findings and observations. We found that, although offline payments involve copying codes in both directions between the payer's phone and the payee's, the extra workload was acceptable to most users.This work was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Prevalence and factors associated with aflatoxin contamination of peanuts from Western Kenya

Aflatoxin contamination of peanuts poses a risk to human health and has been identified as a major constraint to trade in eastern Africa. A survey was carried out to obtain baseline data on levels of aflatoxin in peanuts from major production regions in western Kenya. A total of 384 and 385 samples from Busia and Homabay districts, respectively, were obtained and analyzed for aflatoxin content with an indirect competitive ELISA protocol. Levels of aflatoxin ranged from 0 to 2688 and 7525 μg/kg in samples from Busia and Homa Bay, respectively. Of 769 samples, 87.01% contained b4 μg/kg of aflatoxin, 5.45% were in the range ≥4 and 20 μg/kg, while 7.54% exceeded the Kenya's regulatory limit of 20 μg/kg. There was a highly significant (χ2=14.17; Pb0.0002) association between district of origin and sample aflatoxin levels. This observation was supported by a significant (χ2=11.98; P=0.0005) association between levels of aflatoxin and agro ecological zones. Only 3.26% of the samples from the dryer LM3 zone had N20 μg/kg compared with 10.28% of the samples from the wetter and humid LM1 zone. There was also a highly significant (χ2=9.73; P=0.0018) association between cultivar improvement status and aflatoxin levels. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds for peanuts from Busia being contaminated were 2.6 times greater than those for peanuts from Homabay. Planting improved cultivars would lower the odds of contamination to a half (odds ratio=0.552) those for local landraces. These results are discussed in relation to the risk of human exposure to aflatoxins and the need for proper sampling procedures for regulatory purposes

Assessment of willingness-to-pay for Aflasafe KE01, a native biological control product for aflatoxin management in Kenya

Open Access Article; Published online: 07 Oct 2020Contamination of key staples with aflatoxins compromises the quality of food and feed, impedes trade, and negatively affects the health of consumers whereas acute exposure can be fatal. This study used the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) on a sample of 480 farmers in counties prone to aflatoxin contamination to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) by farmers for Aflasafe KE01, a promising biological control product for the management of aflatoxin contamination of key staples in Kenya, compare its cost with that of a similar product in use in Nigeria, and determine factors likely to affect its adoption. Four hundred and eighty households from four counties identified as aflatoxin hotspots in Kenya were purposively selected and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The mean WTP per kilogram of Aflasafe KE01, using Contingent Valuation Method in the four counties ranged from Kenya Shillings (Ksh) 113 to 152/kg compared to a cost of Ksh. 130/kg, the price of a similar product, AflasafeTM, in Nigeria. Factors that positively influenced farmers’ WTP included information from crop extension services and access to credit. To facilitate the adoption of Aflasafe KE01 or any other biocontrol product in Kenya and elsewhere, there is a need for increased education efforts through extension services to farmers about aflatoxins. Strategies to ensure that the biocontrol product is integrated into the credit scheme of the technological packages to farmers need to be considered

Role of collective action and handling practices on aflatoxin contamination of groundnuts: evidence from Kenya

Groundnut is a major dietary component and a relatively cheap source of proteins for many people in western Kenya. In order to commercialize groundnut production, the government of Kenya, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Catholic Relief Services mobilized growers into producer marketing groups (PMGs). The PMGs are trained on practices that minimize groundnut contamination with aflatoxin. This paper examines the effectiveness of PMGs as avenues for promoting practices that reduce the risk of groundnut contamination with aflatoxin based on a household survey conducted in Homabay district, western Kenya. Aflatoxin content of groundnuts samples obtained during the survey was determined by indirect competitive ELISA. The results indicated a significant (P<0.01) level of awareness about aflatoxins among farmers belonging to PMGs (90.6%) than those who did not (58.1%). A significantly higher percentage of PMG farmers practiced sorting and grading. In addition, a significantly (P<0.01) higher percentage of PMG respondents (89.5%) employed cultural methods of pest control compared with the non PMG farmers (52.2%). However, levels of aflatoxins in groundnut samples taken from both categories of farmers did not differ, suggesting a lag between the time farmers receive a message and its implementation. These results indicate that PMGs have contributed substantially to increased awareness about aflatoxins and underscore the need for up-scaling training of farmers on specific measures that reduce the risk of exposure

Incidence of aflatoxin in peanuts (Arachis hypogaea Linnaeus) from markets in Western, Nyanza and Nairobi Provinces of Kenya and related market traits

Fungal contaminants in major food staples in Kenya have negatively impacted food security. The study sought to investigate peanut market characteristics and their association with levels of aflatoxin in peanuts from Western, Nyanza and Nairobi Provinces of Kenya. Data were collected from 1263 vendors in various market outlets using a structured questionnaire, and peanuts and peanut products from each vendor were sampled and analyzed for aflatoxin levels. Thirty seven per cent of the samples exceeded the 10 μg/kg regulatory limit for aflatoxin levels set by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). Raw podded peanuts had the lowest (χ2 = 167.78; P 10 μg/kg of aflatoxin. Over 70% of all storage structures were poorly ventilated and dusty. Sorting comprised 53% of the various crop protection measures used by traders post-harvest. To reduce aflatoxin exposure to consumers, set standards need to be complemented by strict monitoring systems and education of producers, processors and consumers in crop commodities other than maize, which has received the most attention in Kenya. Alternative uses of contaminated produce need to be explored

Aflatoxin contamination of maize and groundnut in Burundi: distribution of contamination, identification of causal agents and potential biocontrol genotypes of Aspergillus flavus

Open Access JournalAflatoxin contamination of the staples maize and groundnut is a concern for health and economic impacts across sub-Saharan Africa. The current study (i) determined aflatoxin levels in maize and groundnut collected at harvest in Burundi, (ii) characterized populations of Aspergillus section Flavi associated with the two crops, and (iii) assessed aflatoxin-producing potentials among the recovered fungi. A total of 120 groundnut and 380 maize samples were collected at harvest from eight and 16 provinces, respectively. Most of the groundnut (93%) and maize (87%) contained aflatoxin below the European Union threshold, 4 μg/kg. Morphological characterization of the recovered Aspergillus section Flavi fungi revealed that the L-morphotype of A. flavus was the predominant species. Aflatoxin production potentials of the L-morphotype isolates were evaluated in maize fermentations. Some isolates produced over 137,000 μg/kg aflatoxin B 1 . Thus, despite the relatively low aflatoxin levels at harvest, the association of both crops with highly toxigenic fungi poses significant risk of post-harvest aflatoxin contamination and suggests measures to mitigate aflatoxin contamination in Burundi should be developed. Over 55% of the L-morphotype A. flavus did not produce aflatoxins. These atoxigenic L-morphotype fungi were characterized using molecular markers. Several atoxigenic genotypes were detected across the country and could be used as biocontrol agents. The results from the current study hold promise for developing aflatoxin management strategies centered on biocontrol for use in Burundi to reduce aflatoxin contamination throughout the value chain

Novel sources of drought tolerance from landraces and wild sorghum relatives

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and second aftermaize (Zeamays L.) in Kenya. It is an important food security crop in arid and semi-arid lands, where its production potential is hampered by drought. Drought tolerance can be measured by a plant’s ability to resist premature senescence, often described as stay-green. This study was carried out with the objective of identifying novel stay-green trait among wild and landrace genotypes of sorghum. Forty-four sorghum genotypes that included 16 improved, nine landraces, and 17 wild relatives of sorghum alongside known stay-green sources, B35 and E36-1, were evaluated under well-watered and water-stressed conditions in an alpha-lattice design of three replications. Data was collected on plant height (PHT), flag leaf area (FLA), panicle weight (PWT), 100-seed weight (HSW), relative chlorophyll content (RCC), number of green leaves at maturity (GLAM), days to 50% flowering (DFL), and grain yield (YLD). Genetic diversity was determined using diversity arrays technology (DArT) sequencing and quality control (QC) markers were generated using a java script. Lodoka, a landrace, was the most drought-tolerant genotype, recorded the highest numbers of RCC and GLAM, and outperformed B35 and E36-1 in yield under water-stress and well-watered conditions. The RCC was highly correlated with GLAM (r = .71) and with yield-related traits, HSW (r = .85), PWT (r = .82), and YLD (r = .78). All traits revealed high heritability (broad-sense) ranging from 60.14 to 98.4% for RCC and DFL, respectively. These results confirm earlier reports that wild relatives and landraces are a good source of drought tolerance alleles