Assessment of on-farm, market and wild food diversity in three agro-ecological zones of Western Kenya

Poster presented at Tropentag 2014. International Conference on Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development. "Bridging the Gap between Increasing Knowledge and Decreasing Resources" Prague (Czech Republic) Sep 17-19 2014

Out-of-hours primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction is not associated with excess mortality: a study of 3347 patients treated in an integrated cardiac network

OBJECTIVES: Timely delivery of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is the treatment of choice for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Optimum delivery of PPCI requires an integrated network of hospitals, following a multidisciplinary, consultant-led, protocol-driven approach. We investigated whether such a strategy was effective in providing equally effective in-hospital and long-term outcomes for STEMI patients treated by PPCI within normal working hours compared with those treated out-of-hours (OOHs). DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Large PPCI centre in London. PARTICIPANTS: 3347 STEMI patients were treated with PPCI between 2004 and 2012. The follow-up median was 3.3 years (IQR: 1.2–4.6 years). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was long-term major adverse cardiac events (MACE) with all-cause mortality a secondary endpoint. RESULTS: Of the 3347 STEMI patients, 1299 patients (38.8%) underwent PPCI during a weekday between 08:00 and 18:00 (routine-hours group) and 2048 (61.2%) underwent PPCI on a weekday between 18:00 and 08:00 or a weekend (OOHs group). There were no differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups with comparable door-to-balloon times (in-hours (IHs) 67.8 min vs OOHs 69.6 min, p=0.709), call-to-balloon times (IHs 116.63 vs OOHs 127.15 min, p=0.60) and procedural success. In hospital mortality rates were comparable between the two groups (IHs 3.6% vs OOHs 3.2%) with timing of presentation not predictive of outcome (HR 1.25 (95% CI 0.74 to 2.11). Over the follow-up period there were no significant differences in rates of mortality (IHs 7.4% vs OFHs 7.2%, p=0.442) or MACE (IHs 15.4% vs OFHs 14.1%, p=0.192) between the two groups. After adjustment for confounding variables using multivariate analysis, timing of presentation was not an independent predictor of mortality (HR 1.04 95% CI 0.78 to 1.39). CONCLUSIONS: This large registry study demonstrates that the delivery of PPCI with a multidisciplinary, consultant-led, protocol-driven approach provides safe and effective treatment for patients regardless of the time of presentation

Estimation of Soil Moisture in Bare Soils of the Northern Dry Zone of the Deccan Plateau, Karnataka, using Sentinel-1 Band C imagery

Soil moisture information is acritical input to water resource allocation, irrigation scheduling and climate risk management.The date of sowing is an important decision farmers take after initial rainfall occurs based on traditional knowledge and physical estimation of soil moisture. The present study was conducted on bare agriculture fields of Siruguppasub-district in Karnataka state in India to estimate surface soil moisture us in gradar remote sensing with the aim of developing an accurate and scalable methodology

Integrated systems approach for enhancing resilience of arid farming systems in South Asia

This paper aims to share the methods and processes of designing resilient farming systems to improve livelihoods under the drylands in South-Asia. The study is based on 250 randomly selected farm households along the rainfall gradient from Jodhpur- Barmer-Jaisalmer districts in Western Rajasthan in India. Our analysis demonstrates that the dryland smallholder farming systems occur within diverse agro-ecological and socio-economic environments and develop different livelihood strategies driven by opportunities and constraints encountered. Multiple livelihood assets determine different land use patterns and agricultural management practices in dryland systems in south Asia. Well-designed household survey on socio-economic and agroecological variables and statistical approach helped capture the diversity of livelihood assets to categorize households into homogenous farm types. The follow up FDG’s with farmers and stakeholder were equally important to validate farm typologies and prioritization of interventions. Engaging the innovation platform for identification of potential innovation options and their prioritization at district level; involving farmers for each farm typology, and ex-ante assessment of promising options led to the on-farm assessment of farm type specific most appropriate interventions in the action villages. Landscape and community level options were prioritized with the village development committee and proactive farmers. The institutional platforms experimented at village to regional level has strengthened the capacity of the community/stakeholders to innovate to improve the farming systems resilience and economic viability. An ex-post assessment demonstrates significant increase in farming systems productivity, household income and development of value chains as well as sustainable management of natural resource including common pastures. This study contributes to the understanding of how research for development through integrated systems approach can contribute towards stabilizing farm incomes, sustainable intensification and smoothening livelihood of resource poor farmers in vulnerable dry regions

Health service changes to address diabetes in pregnancy in a complex setting: perspectives of health professionals

Background: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have high rates of gestational and pre-existing type 2 diabetes in pregnancy. The Northern Territory (NT) Diabetes in Pregnancy Partnership was established to enhance systems and services to improve health outcomes. It has three arms: a clinical register, developing models of care and a longitudinal birth cohort. This study used a process evaluation to report on health professional's perceptions of models of care and related quality improvement activities since the implementation of the Partnership. Methods: Changes to models of care were documented according to goals and aims of the Partnership and reviewed annually by the Partnership Steering group. A 'systems assessment tool' was used to guide six focus groups (49 healthcare professionals). Transcripts were coded and analysed according to pre-identified themes of orientation and guidelines, education, communication, logistics and access, and information technology. Results: Key improvements since implementation of the Partnership include: health professional relationships, communication and education; and integration of quality improvement activities. Focus groups with 49 health professionals provided in depth information about how these activities have impacted their practice and models of care for diabetes in pregnancy. Co-ordination of care was reported to have improved, however it was also identified as an opportunity for further development. Recommendations included a central care coordinator, better integration of information technology systems and ongoing comprehensive quality improvement processes. Conclusions: The Partnership has facilitated quality improvement through supporting the development of improved systems that enhance models of care. Persisting challenges exist for delivering care to a high risk population however improvements in formal processes and structures, as demonstrated in this work thus far, play an important role in work towards improving health outcomes.R. Kirkham, J.A. Boyle, C. Whitbread, M. Dowden, C. Connors, S. Corpus, L. McCarthy, J. Oats, H.D. McIntyre, E. Moore, K. O’Dea, A. Brown, L. Maple-Brown (On behalf of the NT Diabetes in Pregnancy Partnership

Accuracies of Soil Moisture Estimations Using a Semi-Empirical Model over Bare Soil Agricultural Croplands from Sentinel-1 SAR Data

This study describes a semi-empirical model developed to estimate volumetric soil moisture ( v ϑ) in bare soils during the dry season (March–May) using C-band (5.42 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery acquired from the Sentinel-1 European satellite platform at a 20 m spatial resolution. The semi-empirical model was developed using backscatter coefficient (σ° dB) and in situ soil moisture collected from Siruguppa taluk (sub-district) in the Karnataka state of India. The backscatter coefficients 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ were extracted from SAR images at 62 geo-referenced locations where ground sampling and volumetric soil moisture were measured at a 10 cm (0–10 cm) depth using a soil core sampler and a standard gravimetric method during the dry months (March–May) of 2017 and 2018. A linear equation was proposed by combining 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ to estimate soil moisture. Both localized and generalized linear models were derived. Thirty-nine localized linear models were obtained using the 13 Sentinel-1 images used in this study, considering each polarimetric channel Co-Polarization (VV) and Cross-Polarization(VH) separately, and also their linear combination of VV + VH. Furthermore, nine generalized linear models were derived using all the Sentinel-1 images acquired in 2017 and 2018; three generalized models were derived by combining the two years (2017 and 2018) for each polarimetric channel; and three more models were derived for the linear combination of 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ . The above set of equations were validated and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was 0.030 and 0.030 for 2017 and 2018, respectively, and 0.02 for the combined years of 2017 and 2018. Both localized and generalized models were compared with in situ data. Both kind of models revealed that the linear combination of 0 VV σ + 0 VH σ showed a significantly higher R2 than the individual polarimetric channels

Understanding the response of sorghum cultivars to nitrogen applications in the semi-arid Nigeria using the agricultural production systems simulator

The Agricultural Production Systems simulator (APSIM) model was calibrated and evaluated using two improved sorghum varieties conducted in an experiment designed in a randomized complete block, 2014–2016 at two research stations in Nigeria. The results show that the model replicated the observed yield accounting for yield differences and variations in phenological development between the two sorghum cultivars. For early-maturing cultivar (ICSV-400), the model indicated by low accuracy with root means square error (RMSE) for biomass and grain yields of 20.3% and 23.7%. Meanwhile, Improved-Deko (medium-maturing) cultivar shows the model was calibrated with low RMSE (11.1% for biomass and 13.9% for grain). Also, the model captured yield response to varying Nitrogen (N) fertilizer applications in the three agroecological zones simulated. The N-fertilizer increased simulated grain yield by 26–52% for ICSV-400 and 19–50% for Improved-Deko compared to unfertilized treatment in Sudano-Sahelian zone. The insignificant yield differences between N-fertilizer rates of 60 and 100 kgha−1 suggests 60 kgNha−1 as the optimal rate for Sudano-Sahelian zone. Similarly, grain yield increased by 23–57% for ICSV-400 and 19–59% for Improved Deko compared to unfertilized N-treatment while the optimal mean grain yield was simulated at 80 kgNha−1 in the Sudan savanna zone. In the northern Guinea savanna, mean simulated grain yield increased by 8–20% for ICSV-400 and 12–23% for Improved-Deko when N-fertilizer was applied compared to unfertilized treatment. Optimum grain yield was obtained at 40 kgha−1. Our study suggests a review of blanket recommended fertilizer rates across semi-arid environments for sorghum to maximize productivity and eliminate fertilizer losses, means of adaptation strategies to climate variability

Simulation of Lablab Pastures

The potential of legume-based pastures to address declining soil nitrogen on marginal cropping soils is increasingly recognised in northern Australia, as such there is a need for cost benefit analysis of pastures and crops in a mixed farming system. In highly variable rainfall environments, biophysical modelling may be the best way of identifying and quantifying interactions with mixed crop-livestock systems on a seasonal basis. This paper describes a case study where both animal productivity and lablab pasture production is simulated. Lablab (Lablab purpureus) is an annual tropical legume widely used as a short-term legume phase in crop-pasture rotations, providing high quality forage for animal production and a low risk nitrogen input for crop production

Restoring degraded landscapes and fragile food systems in sub-Saharan Africa: synthesis of best practices

Communities in the dryland systems of East Africa regularly suffer from the devastating impacts of climate variability and change, commonly manifested through torrential floods and recurrent droughts. More than 50% of the natural disasters recorded in East African region have occurred during the past decade affecting nearly 30 million people. For instance, in Ethiopia as recently as 2017, more than 5.6 million people were categorized as being in either crisis or emergency situations and requiring urgent humanitarian assistance (WFP, 2017). Such communities, already struggling to cope with the impacts of unpredictable weather, will face a daunting task in adapting to future climate change unless they adapt improved landscape management practices