INTRODUCING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR HOUSEHOLDS WITH MALNUTRITION: AN ETHIOPIAN CASE STUDY

Many developing regions have excellent potential agricultural resources. However, historically population has become so concentrated on such small holdings that acute poverty and malnutrition now predominate. The food scientists’ response to the chronic nutritional problem has often been subsidized bio-fortification with nutritional supplements or more recently cultivars with higher nutrient levels. Where much of the population is in this inadequate nutrition category as in highland Ethiopia, the supplements are neither financially feasible nor sustainable. The cultivars can provide a few critical nutrients but are not a comprehensive solution. To improve nutrition, it is necessary to increase income so that an increased quality and quantitative diet can be obtained. Here we evaluate a strategy to introduce new agricultural technologies where a central aspect of evaluation is combining the nutritional and income goals. This analysis is undertaken in the Qobo valley, Amhara state, Ethiopia. Using behavioralist criteria for decision making defined by the farmers, the effects of different potential combinations of technologies and supporting agricultural policies on the household nutritional gaps and farmers’ incomes are analyzed. An integrated approach involving the combined technologies of water harvesting, fertilization and Striga resistance combined with improved credit programs has the potential to increase income by 31% and to eliminate malnutrition except in the most adverse state of nature (10% probability). Both the treatment of the nutritional deficits and the decision making criteria defined by farmers are expected to be useful techniques in other developing country technology and policy analysis as well.Adoption, agricultural technologies, Striga resistance, inorganic fertilizers, tied-ridges, marketing strategies, inventory credit, nutrition, income, capped-lexicographic utility.

Production Structure, Technological Change and Scale Economies in the Saw and Planing Mills Industry in New Brunswick, Canada

The translog cost function approach is employed to characterize the production structure and to estimate the rate of technical change and technical bias in the saw and planing mills industry (SPM) in the New Brunswick Province. The findings are that the production structure of the saw and planing mills in Canada is neither homothetic nor homogenous implying potential scale induced distortion in the input mix. Morishma elasticity of substitution estimates show that in the existing technology of the saw and planing mills in New Brunswick, labor can more easily be substituted by capital than capital by labor. Moreover, the amount of round wood that is required to complement labor is higher than that required to complement energy and capital, which indicates that a labor intensive technology choice in the SPM industry is more round wood consuming than the capital and energy intensive technologies. These results coupled with the increasingly stringent environmental regulations indicate that the relative use of labor compared to other inputs is likely to decline in the saw and planing mills industry. Hence, in view of their cost minimizing behavior, the saw and planing mills in New Brunswick will sooner or latter start to replace labor with energy or capital. The saw and planing mills in New Brunswick exhibited fairly high economies of scale during the period 1965-1995, but the rate of technical change has been found to be negative.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Spatio-temporal Variability and Trends in Rainfall and Temperature in Anger watershed, Southwestern Ethiopia

Insights to broadly argued research gap on lack of climate studies at micro-scale considering unique features of an area, this paper intended to examine agro-ecological level spatio-temporal trends and variability in rainfall and temperature in Anger watershed of southwestern Ethiopia. The gridded data managed by the Ethiopia National Meteorological Services Agency (NMSA) for 1983-2018 were used. The Mann-Kendall test for trend analysis and different variability measures were used. Questionnaire and FGD data on community perceptions gathered from 214 households and elders were analysed descriptively and qualitatively. The study reveals the consistent increasing trends in temperature; and high variability and insignificant but increasing rainfall trend. The trends and variability show spatio-temporal differences along agro-ecologies. The watershed is characterized by moderate to high rainfall coefficient of variations, significant years of high rainfall concentration, and considerable negative annual rainfall anomalies; that the variability was severe in woinadega followed by kolla agro-ecology. Although, the perceptions on trends, variability and its implications show difference across agro-ecology, the propensity to increased temperature, unclear rainfall trend and significant inter-annual and seasonal variability were witnessed. Unpredictability of rainfall time, concentrations in kiremt, and unexpected rain during harvesting was major challenges resulting multifaceted impacts on the small-scale farmers’ livelihoods

A multivariate analysis of factors affecting adoption of improved varieties of multiple crops: A case study from Ethiopian highlands

This paper analyzes the synergies/tradeoffs involved in the adoption of improved varieties of multiple crops in the mixed crop-livestock production systems of the highlands of Ethiopia A multivariate probit (MVP) model involving a system of four equations for the adoption decision of improved varieties of barley, potatoes, wheat and faba beans was estimated using a nationally representative data from a sample of 1469 farm households. Model results attested the existence of endogeneity in the adoption decisions of improved varieties of the four crops. The area shares of improved varieties of potatoes and faba beans are also found to have positive and significant effects on the likelihood of adopting improved varieties of barley and wheat and vice versa - indicating synergistic effects among the adoption decisions of the two groups of crops. On the other hand, the area share of improved varieties of wheat negatively and significantly effects the chances of using improved varieties of barley and vice versa - suggesting the existence of tradeoffs between the improved varieties of the two crops. The MVP results, therefore, provide evidence for the simultaneity and interdependence of the decisions and intensity of adoption of the improved varieties of the four crops. Practical training has positive and significant effects on the likelihood of adopting improved varieties of barley, potatoes and faba bean while secondary level education has positive and significant effects on the likelihood of adopting improved varieties of barley and wheat. Hence, efforts to increase adoption of improved barley, potatoes and wheat varieties would more likely be successful if accompanied with practical trainings and/or if directed to farmers with relatively higher levels of education. Farmers in Oromia and SNNPR Regions are found to be more likely to use improved varieties of barley, potatoes and wheat than those in Amhara Region

Alkaline and co-digestion pretreatments: process optimization for enhancing the methane yield of Jatropha press cake

Oil extraction and biodiesel production process produce a massive amount of by-products like Jatropha press cake (JPC) and crude glycerol (CG), which could be used as a potential substrate for methane production. However, the higher lignocellulosic and nitrogen content in the JPC act as a recalcitrant and inhibitor, respectivly, for microbes that are involved in the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Therefore, the present study aimed to enhance the methane yield of JPC by optimizing the alkaline pretreatment and co-digestion process conditions. The effects of NaOH concentration, incubation temperature, and retention time on methane and soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) yields were evaluated and modeled by employing a response surface methodology coupled with central composite design (RSM-CCD). Moreover, a series of batch experiments with various feedstock concentrations (FCs) were tested to investigate the methane yield of JPC when co-digested with CG at different levels. The methane yields of all pretreated samples were significantly higher when compared with these of the untreated JPC. Pretreating the JPC using 7.32% NaOH at 35.86 °C for 54.05 h was the optimum conditions for maximum methane increment of 40.23% (353.90 mL g−1 VS), while co-digesting 2% CG with JPC at 2 g VS L−1 FC enhanced the methane yield by 28.9% (325.47 mL g−1 VS). Thus, the methane yield of JPC was effectively increased by alkaline pretreatment and co-digesting with CG. However, the alkaline pretreatment was relatively more effective compared with the co-digestion process.publishedVersio

Cost-effectiveness of facility-based, stand-alone and mobile-based voluntary counseling and testing for HIV in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Globally, there is a consensus to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, and one of the strategies to achieve this target is that 90% of people living with HIV should know their HIV status. Even if there is strong evidence of clients’ preference for testing in the community, HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) continue to be undertaken predominantly in health facilities. Hence, empirical cost-effectiveness evidence about different HIV counseling and testing models is essential to inform whether such community-based testing are justifiable compared with additional resources required. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of facility-based, stand-alone and mobile-based HIV voluntary counseling and testing methods in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Annual economic costs of counseling and testing methods were collected from the providers’ perspective from July 2016 to June 2017. Ingredients based bottom-up costing approach was applied. The effectiveness of the interventions was measured in terms of the number of HIV seropositive clients identified. Decision tree modeling was built using TreeAge Pro 2018 software, and one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted by varying HIV positivity rate, costs, and probabilities. Results: The cost of test per client for facility-based, stand-alone and mobile-based VCT was USD 5.06, USD 6.55 and USD 3.35, respectively. The unit costs of test per HIV seropositive client for the corresponding models were USD 158.82, USD 150.97 and USD 135.82, respectively. Of the three models, stand-alone-based VCT was extendedly dominated. Mobile-based VCT costs, an additional cost of USD 239 for every HIV positive client identified when compared to facility-based VCT. Conclusion: Using a mobile-based VCT approach costs less than both the facility-based and stand-alone approaches, in terms of both unit cost per tested individual and unit cost per HIV seropositive cases identified. The stand-alone VCT approach was not cost-effective compared to facility-based and mobile-based VCT. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for mobile-based VCT compared with facility-based VCT was USD 239 per HIV positive case.publishedVersio

Contextualization of cost-efectiveness evidence from literature for 382 health interventions for the Ethiopian essential health services package revision

Background Cost-effectiveness of interventions was a criterion decided to guide priority setting in the latest revision of Ethiopia’s essential health services package (EHSP) in 2019. However, conducting an economic evaluation study for a broad set of health interventions simultaneously is challenging in terms of cost, timeliness, input data demanded, and analytic competency. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesize and contextualize cost-effectiveness evidence for the Ethiopian EHSP interventions from the literature. Methods The evidence synthesis was conducted in five key steps: search, screen, evaluate, extract, and contextualize. We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE research databases for peer-reviewed published articles to identify average cost-effectiveness ratios (ACERs). Only studies reporting cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY), quality-adjusted life year (QALY), or life years gained (LYG) were included. All the articles were evaluated using the Drummond checklist for quality, and those with a score of at least 7 out of 10 were included. Information on cost, effectiveness, and ACER was extracted. All the ACERs were converted into 2019 US dollars using appropriate exchange rates and the GDP deflator. Results In this study, we synthesized ACERs for 382 interventions from seven major program areas, ranging from US$3 per DALY averted (for the provision of hepatitis B vaccination at birth) to US$242,880 per DALY averted (for late-stage liver cancer treatment). Overall, 56% of the interventions have an ACER of less than US$1000 per DALY, and 80$10,000 per DALY. Conclusion We conclude that it is possible to identify relevant economic evaluations using evidence from the literature, even if transferability remains a challenge. The present study identified several cost-effective candidate interventions that could, if scaled up, substantially reduce Ethiopia’s disease burden.publishedVersio