Impacts of Socio-political Organisational Structures Underpinning Indigenous Land Tenure Systems: Evidence from Ghana

 To benefit from the underutilised potential of urban land resources, the introduction and improvement of land registration and cadastral systems have been advocated. However, evidence from empirical research in a number of developing economies including those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to show mixed or inconclusive outcomes from the implementation and operations of such systems. This paper argues that for introduced formal systems to succeed in providing the relevant outcomes it is essential to examine the socio-political organisational structures that underpin the prevailing customary land tenure practices. The paper focuses on the examination of the changing roles of authority structures and rules regarding control and access to land resources within the context of the customary land sector. Due to the varying influences of colonial and post-colonial policies and laws, a dualistic land tenure regime consisting of formal and customary structures and rules has emerged that mediates the land delivery processes to varying degree across countries in SSA. The findings of the current study highlight the importance of social organisation that gives form, meaning and relevance to a land tenure system. This suggests that there is the need to be cautious when embarking on land rights formalisation activities, since unintended outcomes can occur given the peculiarities of the social context of a jurisdiction. Particularly, any strategy for improving land registration systems for the provision of land information must take into consideration the nature of the land tenure systems, especially the customary structures and rules in a particular jurisdiction

Navigating the Terrain of Digital Transition: Ghana’s Journey of Developing a Digital Land Information System

This paper explores Ghana’s two-decade journey in developing a digital land information system (LIS), exemplified by Ghana Enterprise Land Information System (GELIS) and Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS). Despite advancements by Ghana’s Lands Commission, manual processes persist and coexist with digital ones. Our study uses a qualitative approach to assess the effectiveness of the LIS implemented in Accra. This study found that Accra’s LIS is highly aligned with clear institutional mandates, roles, and responsibilities, as well as the availability of laws and policies to support analogue-to-digital conversion. Furthermore, a robust approach to protecting the data, operating system, and software underpins the system. Subsequently, the integration of a digital LIS has enhanced service delivery and accountability. Nonetheless, Accra’s LIS is still at the beginning of a comprehensive learning and development curve. Sustaining the LIS requires furtherance in the implementation plan, funding, law implementation, ICT strategy, divisional integration, work processes, data quality, and communication strategy. These findings will inform the next steps of improvement for Accra’s LIS and guide its nationwide scaling, contributing to discussions on technology acceptance dynamics in predominantly analogue environments

Private sector-led business model for meeting changing needs of agribusiness value chains actors in Ghana based on mobile-based ICT-enabled field agents

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)The article reviews research findings where farmers expressed needs for various support services including credit/finance, information on markets, prices and weather, input supply services and keeping of farm records. In Ghana, the government-funded agricultural extension system limits activities to technology transfer and education through training, demonstrations and visits. Other services such as inputs and machinery services are provided by the private sector. Based on the gaps between public and private inputs, an Integrated Business Services Delivery Model is proposed, that is national in character with a three-tier structure consisting of a Master Platform, Digital Solution Providers (DSPs) and Agribusiness Service Providers

Alternative Feed Resource for Growing African Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) Larvae in Commercial Production

A six (6)-week long experiment was undertaken to develop an alternative feed resource for the production of African palm weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) larvae and to evaluate the performance of the larvae raised on the different diets. After two weeks, four-hundred (400) young larvae (hatchlings) which weighed between 0.6 – 1.6 g were selected and randomly grouped into 40 sets, each group comprising ten (10) larvae of similar weights and then randomly allocated to four (4) dietary treatments, using a completely randomized design (CRD) with ten (10) replications of 10 larvae. The four treatments designated as T1, T2, T3 and T4 had varying inclusion levels of oil palm yolk at 100%, 50%, 50% and 25% respectively with various combinations of agro-waste materials including fruit waste of banana and pineapple and millet waste. Three (3) kilograms of each diet was formulated and fed every two weeks of the four weeks feeding trial period; with feed being provided ad libitum. Results of the feeding trial revealed that parameters such as total feed intake and mean total feed intake per larva, feed conversion efficiency, pH of larvae and feed cost per kilogram showed significant (p<0.05) differences among treatments. Results of the proximate analysis of diets used revealed significant (p<0.05) differences among the various treatment diets. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that diets did not have any adverse effects on growth performance of larvae, whiles a relatively improved performance was observed at the least inclusion level of oil palm yolk, OPY (25 %). The agro-waste materials exploited actually proved to be potential alternative feed resources for raising the larvae and the diets used served as nutritionally suitable growth media for production of palm weevil larvae

Nutritional Potential and Microbial Status of African Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) Larvae Raised on Alternative Feed Resources

A six (6)-week long experiment was carried out to explore some feed resources for the production of African palm weevil (Rhynchophorus phoenicis) larvae and to ascertain the nutritional potential and microbial status of larvae raised on different diets. Four-hundred (400) two (2)-weeks old young larvae with weights ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 g were harvested and randomly grouped into 40 sets, each group comprising ten (10) larvae of similar weights and then randomly allocated to four (4) dietary treatments, using a completely randomized design (CRD) with ten (10) replications of 10 larvae in each treatment. The four diets which were administered were labeled as T1, T2, T3 and T4 containing varying levels of oil palm yolk at 100%, 50%, 50% and 25% respectively with various combinations of agro-waste materials including fruit waste of banana and pineapple and millet waste. Three (3) kilograms of each diet was fed ad libitum every two weeks for six weeks. After the feeding trial, it was revealed that the various diets fed did not have any significant effect on the nutrient composition except Nitrogen free extract of different groups of larvae produced indicated significant (p<0.05) differences among larvae. Microbial status of crushed samples of larvae also revealed the presence of bacteria species including Klebsiella and Salmonella. It was concluded that R. phoenicis larvae possessed great potentials for use as food and feed for humans and animals respectively and the diets used served as nutritionally suitable growth media for production of palm weevil larvae

The Molecular Genetic Architecture of Self-Employment

Economic variables such as income, education, and occupation are known to affect mortality and morbidity, such as cardiovascular disease, and have also been shown to be partly heritable. However, very little is known about which genes influence economic variables, although these genes may have both a direct and an indirect effect on health. We report results from the first large-scale collaboration that studies the molecular genetic architecture of an economic variable-entrepreneurship-that was operationalized using self-employment, a widely-available proxy. Our results suggest that common SNPs when considered jointly explain about half of the narrow-sense heritability of self-employment estimated in twin data (σg2/σP2= 25%, h2= 55%). However, a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies across sixteen studies comprising 50,627 participants did not identify genome-wide significant SNPs. 58 SNPs with p<10-5were tested in a replication sample (n = 3,271), but none replicated. Furthermore, a gene-based test shows that none of the genes that were previously suggested in the literature to influence entrepreneurship reveal significant associations. Finally, SNP-based genetic scores that use results from the meta-analysis capture less than 0.2% of the variance in self-employment in an independent sample (p≥0.039). Our results are consistent with a highly polygenic molecular genetic architecture of self-employment, with many genetic variants of small effect. Although self-employment is a multi-faceted, heavily environmentally influenced, and biologically distal trait, our results are similar to those for other genetically complex and biologically more proximate outcomes, such as height, intelligence, personality, and several diseases

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

Very few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data. We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (n = 298,420), depressive symptoms (n = 161,460), and neuroticism (n = 170,911). We identify 3 variants associated with subjective well-being, 2 variants associated with depressive symptoms, and 11 variants associated with neuroticism, including 2 inversion polymorphisms. The two loci associated with depressive symptoms replicate in an independent depression sample. Joint analyses that exploit the high genetic correlations between the phenotypes (|ρ^| ≈ 0.8) strengthen the overall credibility of the findings and allow us to identify additional variants. Across our phenotypes, loci regulating expression in central nervous system and adrenal or pancreas tissues are strongly enriched for association.</p

Cerebral small vessel disease genomics and its implications across the lifespan

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are the most common brain-imaging feature of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), hypertension being the main known risk factor. Here, we identify 27 genome-wide loci for WMH-volume in a cohort of 50,970 older individuals, accounting for modification/confounding by hypertension. Aggregated WMH risk variants were associated with altered white matter integrity (p = 2.5×10-7) in brain images from 1,738 young healthy adults, providing insight into the lifetime impact of SVD genetic risk. Mendelian randomization suggested causal association of increasing WMH-volume with stroke, Alzheimer-type dementia, and of increasing blood pressure (BP) with larger WMH-volume, notably also in persons without clinical hypertension. Transcriptome-wide colocalization analyses showed association of WMH-volume with expression of 39 genes, of which four encode known drug targets. Finally, we provide insight into BP-independent biological pathways underlying SVD and suggest potential for genetic stratification of high-risk individuals and for genetically-informed prioritization of drug targets for prevention trials.Peer reviewe