The Contribution of the Ghana Schools Feeding Programme to Basic School Participation: A Study of Selected Schools in the Kwaebibirim District of Ghana

The paper analyzed the contribution of the Ghana Schools Feeding Programme to basic school participation in selected schools in the Kwaebibirim District of Ghana. A total of 94 respondents were involved in the study. Both simple random and purposive sampling techniques were applied in the selection of respondents. Secondary data was also obtained through the review of documents and reports on the subject. The study found out that the policy interventions have contributed to enrolment, attendance and retention in public primary schools. It has improved school attendance by at least 1 percent and at most 15 percent  in the schools studied. It is however worth noting that the programme is bedevilled with challenges such as inadequate funds and delays in it release, reduction in contact hours with pupils and students, and undue interferences in the appointment of caterers. Keywords: education, participation, enrolment, attendance, retentio

Optimal Allocation of Flows (Water) Within the Volta Basin System of Ghana

In this paper, a hypothetical network is proposed for the Volta Basin System (V.B.S) using the optimization technique for obtaining corresponding optimal allocation of flows from runoffs in the sub-basins (source) to the sink (Akosombo reservoir). Maximum flow paths and their capacities with consumptive and non-consumptive flows were identified. We are able to determine the optimal withdrawals on these flows for either consumptive or non-consumptive use.Keywords: Network, sub-basins, sources and sinks, consumptive and non-consumptive flows, optimal allocatio

Effectiveness of three different storage structures and curing process for the storage of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) in Ghana

Three different storage structures and two curing processes for the storage of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) were studied at the CSIR-Food Research Institute, Accra. Sweet potato roots initially cured under warm(30-35 °C) and very humid (90-95% relative humidity) conditions for 7 and 14 days were stored in local (traditional), pit, and clamp storage structures for 84 days. After 0-84 days of storage, the roots were sampled and physically assessed into wholesome, sprouted, fungalinfected, and insect and rodent-damaged. The decrease in percentage wholesome roots corresponded to an increase in percentage fungal-infected roots from 0 to 84 days of storage in all the three different storage structures. Clamp storage structure recorded the highest percentage wholesome roots (20.0%) compared to pit (16.3%) and local (0%) after 84 days of storage when roots were cured for 7 days. However, for 14 days cured roots stored for 84 days, local storage structure recorded the highest percentage wholesome roots (20%), pit (0%), and clamp (10%). Higher percentages of fungal-infected sweet potato roots were recorded from roots cured for14 days. Percentage sprouted roots was higher in clamp, followed by pit and local storage structures. Sprouting was delayed for sweet potato roots that were cured for 14 days in all the storage structures. Percentage damage of sweet potato roots by insect and rodent was lower inall the three storage structures compared to the fungalinfected sweet potato roots

Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in the Post-Crisis Banking Sector of Ghana

The banking industry is immensely important to the socio-economic development of emerging economies by facilitating the exchange of money between depositors and borrowers. The banking industry in Ghana is facing corporate governance challenges, which has led to non-performance and subsequent withdrawal of operating licenses. The withdrawal of the licenses by the Bank of Ghana has impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction, which has not been significantly investigated in a post crisis banking sector of Ghana. This has resulted in many companies undertaking numerous product design and innovation to satisfy customers. This study therefore is aimed at investigating the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the post crisis banking sector of Ghana. The study adopts the positivist traditional stance with a quantitative approach. Participants were drawn from among the customers of universal banks in Ghana. The purposive sampling technique was used to administer 250 questionnaires to customers of universal banks in Ghana in which 170 usable questionnaires were retrieved for analysis with a response rate of 68 per cent. The investigation revealed that customer satisfaction variables have significantly influenced the loyalty of customers of banks involved in this study. The results indicated that tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, and dimensions of service quality have positive influence on customer satisfaction.The investigation largely focused on quantitative analysis of results, hence; a further study adopting the qualitative approach would contribute to the body of knowledge on customer loyalty and satisfaction in the banking sector. This study provides a strong evidence for banks that have been negatively impacted by the banking crisis in Ghana and want to recover from the associated impacts on their customers to enhance their customer satisfaction by improving the tangibility and reliability of services to clients. It is recommended that Banks in Ghana focus on achieving high customer satisfaction by focusing on high quality services delivery based on the service quality dimensions. Keywords: Banking, Industry, Customer, Satisfaction, Loyalty DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/76-04 Publication date: February 28th 202

Increasing the use of continuing professional development courses to strengthen trauma care in Ghana

Injury is a major cause of death and disability in Ghana. Strengthening care of the injured is essential to reduce this burden. Trauma continuing professional development (CPD) courses are an important component of strengthening trauma care. In many countries, including Ghana, their use needs to be more uniformly promoted. We propose lowcost strategies to increase the utilization of trauma CPD in Ghana, especially in district hospitals and higher need areas. These strategies include developing plans by regional health directorates and teaching hospitals for the regions for which they are responsible. Lists could be kept and monitored of which hospitals have doctors with which type of training. Those hospitals that need to have at least one doctor trained could be flagged for notice of upcoming courses in the area and especially encouraged to have the needed doctors attend. The targets should include at least one surgeon or one emergency physician at all regional or large district hospitals who have taken the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) (or locally-developed alternative) in the past 4 years, and each district hospital should have at least one doctor who has taken the Primary Trauma Care (PTC) or Trauma Evaluation and Management (TEAM) (or locally-developed alternatives) in the past 4 years. Parallel measures would increase enrollment in the courses during training, such as promoting TEAM for all medical students and ATLS for all surgery residents. It is important to develop and utilize more “home grown” alternatives to increase the long-term sustainability of these efforts, Keywords: trauma, injury, education, training, continuing professional developmentFunding: Non

Application of a value chain approach to understanding white kenkey production, vending and consumption practices in three districts of Ghana

Traditional processing and street vending of foods is a vital activity in the informal sector of the Ghanaian economy and offers livelihood for a large number of traditional food processors. Kenkey is a fermented maize ‘dumpling’ produced by traditional food processors in Ghana. Ga and Fante kenkey have received research attention and there is a lot of scientific information on kenkey production. White kenkey produced from dehulled maize grains is a less known kind of kenkey. A survey was held in three districts of Ghana to study production, vending and consumption of white kenkey and to identify major bottlenecks related to production, which can be addressed in studies to re-package kenkey for a wider market. Questionnaires were designed for producers, vendors and consumers of white kenkey to collate information on Socio-cultural data, processing technologies, frequency of production and consumption, product shelf life, reasons for consumption and quality attributes important to consumers using proportional sampling. The survey was conducted in white kenkey production zones and trade centers. Results showed that production of white kenkey is done on small-scale levels by middle-aged women in households with 10-50 kg of dehulled maize processed into white kenkey, 1-3 times weekly. A third (28%) of the women processed up to 50-100 kg of maize per week. Although 62% of vendors sell 50-100 balls of white kenkey daily, 15% of them sell more than 170 balls. Majority of consumers (45.9%) liked white kenkey because of its convenience (ready-to-eat). Texture and taste were quality attributes desired by kenkey consumers. Producers did not have written records of process controls and product throughputs. Inspite of their cottage nature, production of white kenkey is a profitable employment for producers and vendors and is popular among consumers. Product improvement, process and product characteristics could offer scale-up criteria for development of white kenkey production using standardized procedures for steeping times, steeping temperature and fermentation times.Keywords: maize, white kenkey, value chain, traditional, product development, re-engineerin

Compositional, physico-mechanical and functional properties of two Ghanaian cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) varieties

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a legume that is cultivated throughout Africa and contributes a significant amount of plant-based protein to human diets. There are many varieties of cowpeas, and these have varying seed characteristics such as shape, size, colour and nutritional properties. The compositional, physico-mechanical, and functional properties of two new cowpea seed varieties were investigated in order to determine their full food-use potentials as well as key parameters for their postharvest machinery for processing, handling, and storage. The proximate composition of the two cowpea cultivars was determined using standard methods. Physico-mechanical analyses carried out were the hundred-seed weight and volume, bulk density, true density, size, aspect ratio, surface area, equivalent diameter, porosity and angle of repose. Functional properties determined were cooking time and water uptake of the grain as well as water and oil absorption, foam capacity and stability, and emulsion capacity and stability of the flour. The Padi-Tuya variety was longer, broader and thicker than Wang Kae. The results showed both varieties to be useful sources of macronutrients. The moisture, fat and fibre in Wang Kae were significantly higher (p<0.05) than Padi-Tuya. However, both cowpea varieties had comparable protein levels of 17.7 g/100 g. The cooking time, hydration capacities and indices of the two varieties were also significantly different (p<0.05), but their swelling capacities, swelling and water uptake indices were comparable. Cooking times were 40 and 62 min for Padi-Tuya and Wang Kae, respectively. The water and oil absorption capacities, as well as the swelling indices, were similar, but their emulsion capacities and stabilities were significantly different (p<0.05) for the flour. Padi-Tuya had a higher foam capacity, but was less stable, than Wang Kae. The physico-mechanical properties determined would aid in the design of cleaning, handling and other processing machinery as well as storage facilities for the new cowpeas. The functional and the compositional parameters would assist in the food formulations

Cigarette smoking during breastfeeding in Papua New Guinea: Prevalence and demographic and socio-economic predictors

Background Cigarette smoking during breastfeeding is reported to contribute to significant changes in the composition of breast milk not only by reducing its protective features but also affecting infants' response to breastfeeding and breast milk. However, studies on the prevalence of cigarette smoking and associated factors during breastfeeding are limited in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This study estimates the prevalence of cigarette smoking and its association with demographic and economic factors among breastfeeding women in PNG. Methods We used weighted survey data from the 2016-2018 PNG Demographic and Health Survey (PNGDHS). A weighted sample of 3, 822 women who were breastfeeding during the survey were included in the study. The outcome variable in the present study is current cigarette smoking. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between current cigarette smoking status and socio-demographic and economic variables of breastfeeding women. The regression analysis results were reported using adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results From the weighted sample, the prevalence of cigarette smoking among breastfeeding women was 21.9%; of which 60.8% smoked daily. The mean number of cigarettes smoked in the last 24 hours preceding the survey was 6.05(SD = 5.99). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that breastfeeding women who were from the Momase (aOR: 2.337, CI: 1.786-3.058, p<0.001) and Highlands (AOR: 1.589, CI: 1.213-2.082, p = 0.001), had no religious affiliation (aOR: 3.665, CI: 1.235-10.877, p = 0.019), and households with daughters as household heads (aOR: 1.901, CI: 1.231-2.935, p = 0.004) and being in more than one union (aOR: 2.374, CI: 1.805-3.123, p<0.001) were significantly more likely to smoke cigarette compared to women from southern region, those affiliated to Anglican church, those with husband as household heads, and being in one union respectively. Conclusion Cigarette smoking among breastfeeding women in PNG is relatively high, and region of residence, religion, relationship to household head, and the number of unions remain independent predictors. Interventions should target the individual socio-economic and cultural contexts within which breastfeeding occurs

D 5.5.1.1. Final report on sensory testing in Africa for Group 1. Project AFTER “African Food Tradition rEvisited by Research”

This deliverable concerns the sensory evaluation of the reengineered group 1 African products in the AFTER project. Specifically, it related to reengineered akpan and gowe from Benin, kenkey from Ghana and Kishk Sa'eedi in Egypt. Concerning reengineered akpan from Benin, the sensory evaluation was undertaken in Montpellier, France. Re-engineering of akpan has focused primarily on improvement of sanitary properties of the product, which was a great achievement and will allow producing Akpan on a larger scale in SMEs in Africa. Sensory evaluation of the Akpan products was carried out using CATA and JAR techniques that have been developed for use with consumers instead of a trained panel. Three Akpan products were tested by 102 consumers: Akpan added with 10% sugar (AS10), Akpan added with 3% spray-dried milk and 8.7% sugar (AMS8.7) and Akpan added with 3% spray-dried milk and 15% sugar (AMS15). Independently of the Akpan tasted, Acidity or Sweetness attributes were scored “Just About Right, as I like” by 56 to 77% of consumers. Odour perception was perceived differently, depending on consumers. However, Texture was found “Too weak”, too liquid by the majority of consumers (49 to 55%) and Taste “too strong” (46 to 54%). The most frequently CATA descriptors checked by consumers which better described Akpan products were: “Artificial”, “Floral”, “New/Different”, “Strong in Taste”, “Mealy”, followed by “Liquid”, “Drinking yoghurt”, “Sweet”, “Acidic”, and “Rough”. At the opposite, an ideal-yoghurt was described as Creamy, Natural, Good for health, Refreshing, Homogeneous, with a texture of a Bulgarian yoghurt-type, Thick, Sweet, Attractive, Nutritious and Milk taste. In terms of sensory evaluation, the three Akpan products did not significantly. If we remove the terms such as “artificial”, “strong in taste”, “floral” due to a manufacturing error (use of a few drops of citronella essential oil instead of citronella infusion as a traditional flavouring of Akpan in Benin), it remains the terms “mealy”, “liquid” “drinking yoghurt” that better describe the product and were previously used for describing traditional Akpan product. This suggests that sensory properties of the reengineered Akpan may not be acceptable to French consumers who prefer a product with a creamy, homogeneous, Bulgarian yoghurt-type taste. Gowe in Benin was not tested using sensory evaluation. Sensory testing of Gowe in Benin was not undertaken because this was planned to be undertaken in Europe. The reason is because the methodology used in sensory evaluation is independent of the location provided the samples are the same. However, the particular samples provided for French sensory testing contained a concentration of aflatoxin that was higher than the minimum EU allowable limit. It was not possible to repeat the sensory test in France because it would have taken too long to obtain a replacement supply from Benin and to repeat the processing (takes one week). In which case the samples would have been took different to enable a comparison. The sensory evaluation of kenkey was carried at the Food Research Institute, Ghana. Current trends in urbanization, and the increasing popularity of kenkey among consumers, require larger scale production with consistent quality. Testing was conducted to determine the sensory profile of white reengineered kenkey made using the optimum pre-process conditions of steeping time (30 and 45h), steeping temperature (30ᵒC and 35ᵒC) and dough fermentation time of 12 hours. The qualitative descriptive analysis showed that the sensory profile of white kenkey was dependent on preprocessing variables. Thus merely optimizing the pre-processing variables with regards to acid production and other readily measurable constituents though could shorten the production process could not guarantee the best product sensory quality. The results show that all the descriptors generated were appropriate for differentiating sensory qualities among samples and could be used for basic research and product development for white kenkey. Soft and sticky texture in white kenkey was highly appreciated. Sensory evaluation of Kishk Sa'eedi (KS) was undertaken in Egypt. KS is an Egyptian indigenous wheat-based fermented food prepared traditionally according to the method applied by Upper Egyptians. This work is done to characterize sensory properties and sensory profile of the reengineered KS. Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) was used to study the interrelationship among and between sensory attributes. 14 terms regarding appearance, odour, flavour and texture of the samples, was selected and a glossary describing each descriptor was developed. Three KS samples were profiled by 11 assessors using the chosen 14 sensory descriptors. Mean intensity ratings of the descriptive attributes showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) within KS samples for all the 14 attributes tested. In general, high ratings for creamy colour, fresh odour, KS taste and fracturability are considered as positive effects that would be favoured by panellists while increase in caramel colour, sour taste, denseness and mouth coating are regarded as undesirable. The re-engineered KS sample perceived as less sour and less salty compared with the traditional ones. With regard to texture quality, reengineered sample was easy to fracture, and scored higher for grittiness. Meanwhile, the sample was rated lower than the traditional ones with regard to Kishk taste and fermented odour. Descriptive sensory evaluations between of the traditional and re-engineered KS samples showed that tastes i.e. sour, salty, and KS taste; fracutability and grittiness were discriminating attributes. Fermented odour, colour i.e. creamy and caramel; presence of fissure and presence of bran were least discriminating. Evaluation of the KS sensory characteristics provide in depth understanding of the sensory quality criteria as perceived by the sensory trained panel. The present study showed that substantial differences in sensory character were noted between the traditional and re-engineered KS in particular, differences in colour, fresh odour, KS taste, fracutability and mouth coating. This work showed that the application of QFD and PCA techniques could provide the useful information to KS and helped to identify the importance of product attributes. In conclusion the sensory evaluation showed clear sensory differences between the traditional and reengineered products relating to akpan from Benin, kenkey from Ghana and Kishk Sa'eedi from Egypt. Other deliverables will report on the acceptance by consumers