A trend towards urban integration and organization of the tomato subsector in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Tomato has become an economically viable diversification crop for the strongly rice-oriented farming system in Madagascar. As tomatoes have a relatively short shelf life, this crop is mainly grown within the vicinity of large towns such as the capital Antananarivo. It is still, however, a high risk product for different stakeholders in the food commodity subsector because of its perishability and year-to-year variability in market prices. The cost-effective but risky aspect of tomatoes has prompted farmers and sellers to adapt. Tomato cropping and marketing calendars have been adjusted to ensure that tomatoes are marketed throughout the year to stabilize prices and secure earnings. A study of the Ambohidrazana cropping area in the hilly region east of Antananarivo indicated that farmers are, to an increasing extent, taking market variables into account when making cropping decisions. It was also noted that this subsector has been able to adapt to its physical environment by striving to overcome constraints to intensification and expansion of tomato cropping on poor periurban soils. The fact that farmers, supported by research, have taken the initiative to use urban waste as humus to fertilize tomato plots indicates a promising future for this subsector. Vitality has also been boosted via challenges associated with product diversification and quality improvement to meet consumer demand. The tomato subsector in Madagascar is striving concomitantly to diversify the diet of Malagasy people and to enhance income security for stakeholders

Trends in mortality from coronary heart and cerebrovascular disease in Switzerland, 1969-87.

Trends in age-specific and age-standardized death certification rates from all ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease in Switzerland have been analysed for the period 1969-87, i.e. since the introduction of the Eighth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases for coding causes of death. For coronary heart disease, overall age-standardized rates of males in the mid-late 1980's were similar to those in the late 1960's, although some upward trend was evident up to the mid 1970's (with a peak rate of 120.4/100,000, World standard, in 1978) followed by steady declines in more recent years (103.8/100,000 in 1987). These falls were larger in truncated (35 to 64 years) rates. For females, overall age-standardized rates were stable around a value of 40/100,000, while truncated rates tended to decrease, particularly over most recent years, with an overall decline of over 25%. Examination of age-specific trends showed that in both sexes declines at younger ages were already evident in the earlier calendar period, while above age 50 some fall became evident only in most recent years. Thus, in a formal log-linear age/period/cohort model, both a period and a cohort component emerged. In relation to cerebrovascular diseases, the overall declines were around 40% in males (from 67.4 to 41.2/100,000, World standard) and 45% for females (from 56.6 to 31.7/100,000), and were proportionally comparable across subsequent age groups above age 45. The estimates for the age/period/cohort model were thus downwards both for the period and the cohort component although, in such a situation, it is difficult to disentangle the major underlying component.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS