An economic analysis of the impacts of international trade liberalisation on smallholder export crop supply chains and producers in Malawi

Imperial Users onl

The Role of Leadership Styles on Teachers’ Working Morale in Primary Schools in Kibaha Town Council

The study aimed at investigating the role of leadership styles on teachers‟ working morale in Kibaha public primary schools. The purpose was fulfilled through four specific objectives: to explore the leadership styles practiced in primary schools, to examine the teachers‟ perception on the exercised leadership styles, to investigate different ways in which the practiced leadership styles affect teachers‟ morale, to establish effective leadership style that influence teachers‟ working morale. The study followed case study design whereby quantitative and qualitative approaches were the major means of data collection and analyses. The data were collected through questionnaires, and interviews. The study involved five public primary schools and about 70 respondents. 61 primary school teachers were randomly selected to respond to questionnaires, while 5 head teachers and 4 Ward education coordinators were purposively selected to participate in interview sessions. Pre- testing of the instruments was conducted twice in two primary schools within an interval of one week but those schools were not involved in the sample of study. The study revealed that the most practised leadership style by school heads was Autocratic. Moreover, the findings revealed that practised leadership style had influence on teachers‟ working morale. Thus teachers‟ working morale can be predicted based on the leadership style asserted by the head teachers. Teachers‟ perception was positive when their head teachers practiced democratic style of leadership. This might be due to their involvement in different matters concerning school activities and endeavours. The study concluded that democratic style of leadership should be upheld and used by all head teachers of primary schools in order to influence teachers‟ working morale

Proposed methodology of optimizing the secondary public transport network of a city in demand

Papers presented virtually at the 41st International Southern African Transport Conference on 10-13 July 2072In 2019/20, it was of major importance to identify an alternative network within the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) that can meet the increasing population demands. Being composed of high-capacity corridors, the current IPTN still requires a secondary network to meet day to day transporting needs (City of Joburg, 2019). Since the city's land isn't utilized very densely, the main network only serves a small part of it. Highcapacity modes may service the primary network. The secondary network is necessary to support the primary network. The capacity of the secondary network is far lower than the city's real demand for public transportation. The majority of public transportation journeys cannot be accommodated by the primary network. This is because they are built on roads that don't work as well and aren't good for high-capacity technologies like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The secondary network provides services in places where it would be too expensive to set up and run the primary network. The smaller buses and minibus taxis that make up the secondary network have fewer seats. For example, while the primary network requires 365 000 seats during peak hours (assuming a seat utilization rate of 60%), the secondary network requires approximately 2 million seats during peak hours (City of Joburg, 2019). This paper explores using the traveling salesman method to identify and analyze the secondary network that meet the current demands

Effectiveness of grain storage facilities and protectants in controlling stored-maize insect pests in a climate-risk prone area of Shire Valley, southern Malawi

Shire Valley is one of Malawi's most vulnerable areas to climate change (CC). In addition to other impacts, CC is expected to affect storage insect pest status, and the efficacy of grain storage facilities and protectants. On-farm grain storage trials were therefore conducted in Shire Valley to assess the performance of storage facilities and grain protectants against storage insect pests. Eight smallholder farmers hosted the trials in Thyolo and Chikwawa districts. Seven grain storage treatments were evaluated for 32 weeks during two storage seasons: Neem leaf powder (NM), Actellic Super dust (ASD), ZeroFly® bag (ZFB), Purdue Improved Crop Storage bag (PICS), Super Grain Bag (SGB), hermetic metal silo (MS) and untreated grain in a polypropylene bag (PP). Insect pest populations and grain damage increased with storage duration and differed significantly between treatments (p 75%) at both sites. The hermetic MS, ZFB bags, ASD and NM treatments did not effectively protect grain from insect damage. High in-store mean temperature (35.6 C) and high initial grain moisture content (13.7%) may have negatively affected efficacy of some treatments and seed germination. Tribolium castaneum survival in the MS requires further investigation. The hermetic storage bags (PICS, SGB) can be recommended for long-term maize grain storage (>32 weeks) by smallholder farmers in Shire Valley and other similar climate change-prone areas in sub-Saharan Africa

On-farm Assessment of Post-harvest Losses: the Case of Groundnut in Malawi, Series Paper Number 43.

An on-farm measurement was conducted in 2015 of groundnut post-harvest loss (PHL) in Central Region of Malawi, aiming to assess the PHL in quantity and quality along the post-harvest processes at the farm level. A total of 15 voluntary farmers from Mchinji, Lilongwe, and Kasungu districts participated in the on-farm assessment using the count and weigh method. The assessment began in April and was forced to end in August due to an unexpected change in funding availability. The close monitoring through resident enumerators revealed that during lifting, drying, stripping, and transport to homestead, an average weight loss of 133.6 kg (shelled nuts equivalent) per hectare was incurred, which is equivalent to 13.7 % of the harvest without post-harvest losses, translating into a value loss of USD 189.7 per hectare. In particular, the lifting process suffered an average loss of 57.3 kg per hectare, due to such factors as hoe damage, weed infestation, and theft. For on-field drying after lifting, 13 % of the farmers practiced the Mandela cork, the best-bet drying method for controlling aflatoxin, while the rest of the farmers dried on ridges or in small drying rounds. During the drying and stripping processes, farmers experienced a mean weight loss of 73.9 kg per hectare, due to factors including attacks by rodents, spillage by children, and biting by workers. As a means of transporting nuts from the field to homestead, farmers used ox-carts (47% of farmers), bicycles (33%) and walking (20%). The mean weight loss during this transportation was 2.4 kg per hectare, due to use of torn sacks and direct loading onto ox-carts without use of sacks. Regarding quality loss, aflatoxin diagnosis was conducted on nuts sampled at two points in time: after drying and after one month of storage. The average contamination level was 0.87 ng/g after drying and 0.88 ng/g after one month of storage. Although the overall level seemed stable, the individual-level changes were large, and so were the district-level and individual-level variances. Seven percent of the farmers registered a level greater than 4 ng/g, which would not be accepted by major international markets such as the European Union. Mitigation measures at each stage of post-harvest operations and methodologies for assessing post-harvest losses in groundnut are discussed

Leveraging routine viral load testing to integrate diabetes screening among patients on antiretroviral therapy in Malawi

Background People living with HIV are at an increased risk of diabetes mellitus due to HIV infection and exposure to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Despite this, integrated diabetes screening has not been implemented commonly in African HIV clinics. Our objective was to explore the feasibility of integrating diabetes screening into existing routine HIV viral load (VL) monitoring and to determine a group of HIV patients that benefit from a targeted screening for diabetes. Methods A mixed methods study was conducted from January to July 2018 among patients on ART aged≥18 y and healthcare workers at an urban HIV clinic in Zomba Central Hospital, Malawi. Patients who were due for routine VL monitoring underwent a finger-prick for simultaneous point-of-care glucose measurement and dried blood spot sampling for a VL test. Diabetes was diagnosed according to WHO criteria. We collected demographic and medical history information using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and electronic medical records. We conducted focus group discussions among healthcare workers about their experience and perceptions regarding the integrated diabetes screening program. Results Of patients undergoing routine VL monitoring, 1316 of 1385 (95%) had simultaneous screening for diabetes during the study period. The median age was 44 y (IQR: 38–53); 61% were female; 28% overweight or obese; and median ART duration was 83 mo (IQR: 48–115). At baseline, median CD4 count was 199 cells/mm3 (IQR: 102–277) and 50% were in WHO clinical stages I or II; 45% were previously exposed to stavudine and 88% were virologically suppressed (<1000 copies/mL). Diabetes prevalence was 31/1316 (2.4%). Diabetes diagnosis was associated with age ≥40 y (adjusted OR [aOR] 7.44; 95% CI: 1.74 to 31.80), being overweight and/or obese (aOR 2.46; 95% CI: 1.13 to 5.38) and being on a protease inhibitor-based ART regimen (aOR 5.78; 95% CI: 2.30 to 14.50). Healthcare workers appreciated integrated diabetes screening but also reported challenges including increased waiting time, additional workload and inadequate communication of results to patients. Conclusions Integrating diabetes screening with routine VL monitoring (every 2 y) seems feasible and was valued by healthcare workers. The additional cost of adding diabetes screening into VL clinics requires further study and could benefit from a targeted approach prioritizing patients aged ≥40 y, being overweight/obese and on protease inhibitor-based regimens

Aflatoxin risk management in commercial groundnut products in Malawi (Sub-Saharan Africa): a call for a more socially responsible industry

This study was performed as a follow-up to a study from 2013, to assess the impact of management interventions on aflatoxin incidence and levels in commercial groundnut products in Malawi. Sixty-seven samples of commercial groundnut products were analyzed for aflatoxin using a fluorometric method. Total aflatoxin levels ranged from 1.5 to 1200 μg/kg in raw groundnuts and 83–820 μg/kg in groundnut flour from vendors. In branded groundnut flour and peanut butter from supermarkets, aflatoxin levels ranged from 13 to 670 μg/kg and 1.3 to 180 μg/kg, respectively. About 93, 88, 78 and 72% of the samples analyzed contained aflatoxin levels above regulatory limit used in Malawi (3 μg/kg), EU (4 μg/kg), most developing countries (10 μg/kg), and the USA (20 μg/kg), respectively. Despite much effort, aflatoxin levels remain persistently high in commercial groundnut. Considering the difficulty of achieving an efficient government regulation system due to resource constraint, the authors recommend the promotion of a socially responsible groundnut processing industry that has consumer welfare as its central feature

“Creating poverty chances”: young people confront gambling harms in Malawi

Commercialised gambling products have spread rapidly through African countries in recent years and have been woven into the everyday experiences of young people. Research to date has documented this phenomenon through conventional social science methodologies, establishing an important body of knowledge. Absent from this work is research that adopts participatory and creative methods, often argued to be particularly well suited to empowering marginalised groups to co-produce research. In this piece, we describe a co-creative participatory approach to working with 24 young people in Malawi to explore experiences of commercial gambling and its impacts in their communities. Our approach was co-developed with the young people and produced a substantial body of community interviews, photovoice pieces and creative representations of the research findings. Here we focus on a song written and recorded by one of the young people that draws on and represents themes of distress, addiction, poverty, and false hope, which were present in the data the young people generated across the study

The Epidemiology of Trachoma in Mozambique: Results of 96 Population-Based Prevalence Surveys.

PURPOSE: Surveys are needed to guide trachoma control efforts in Mozambique, with WHO guidelines for intervention based on the prevalence of trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years and the prevalence of trichiasis in adults aged 15 years and above. We conducted surveys to complete the map of trachoma prevalence in Mozambique. METHODS: Between July 2012 and May 2015, we carried out cross-sectional surveys in 96 evaluation units (EUs) covering 137 districts. RESULTS: A total of 269,217 individuals were enumerated and 249,318 people were examined using the WHO simplified trachoma grading system. Overall, 102,641 children aged 1-9 years, and 122,689 individuals aged 15 years and above were examined. The prevalence of TF in children aged 1-9 years was ≥10% in 12 EUs, composed of 20 districts, covering an estimated total population of 2,455,852. These districts require mass distribution of azithromycin for at least 3 years before re-survey. The TF prevalence in children was 5.0-9.9% in 17 EUs (28 districts, total population 3,753,039). 22 EUs (34 districts) had trichiasis prevalences ≥0.2% in adults 15 years and above, and will require public health action to provide surgical services addressing the backlog of trichiasis. Younger age, more children resident in the household, and living in a household that had an unimproved latrine or no latrine facility, were independently associated with an increased odds of TF in children aged 1-9 years. CONCLUSIONS: Trachoma represents a significant public health problem in many areas of Mozambique

Comparative performance of five hermetic bag brands during on-farm smallholder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) storage

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) grain is an important source of protein for smallholder farmers in developing countries. However, cowpea grains are highly susceptible to bruchid attack, resulting in high quantitative and qualitative postharvest losses (PHLs). We evaluated the performance of five different hermetic bag brands for cowpea grain storage in two contrasting agro-ecological zones of Zimbabwe (Guruve and Mbire districts) for an 8-month storage period during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 storage seasons. The hermetic bag treatments evaluated included: GrainPro Super Grain bags (SGB) IVR™; PICS bags; AgroZ® Ordinary bags; AgroZ® Plus bags; ZeroFly® hermetic bags. These were compared to untreated grain in a polypropylene bag (negative control) and Actellic Gold Dust® (positive chemical control). All treatments were housed in farmers’ stores and were subjected to natural insect infestation. Hermetic bag treatments were significantly superior (p< 0.001) to non-hermetic storage in limiting grain damage, weight loss and insect population development during storage. However, rodent control is recommended, as rodent attack rendered some hermetic bags less effective. Actellic Gold Dust® was as effective as the hermetic bags. Callosobruchus rhodesianus (Pic.) populations increased within eight weeks of storage commencement, causing high damage and losses in both quality and quantity, with highest losses recorded in the untreated control. Cowpea grain stored in Mbire district sustained significantly higher insect population and damage than Guruve district which is ascribed to differences in environmental conditions. The parasitic wasp, Dinarmus basalis (Rondani) was suppressed by Actellic Gold Dust® and all hermetic treatments. All the hermetic bag brands tested are recommended for smallholder farmer use in reducing PHLs while enhancing environmental and worker safety, and food and nutrition security