Ocular injuries and eye care seeking patterns following injuries among cocoa farmers in Ghana.

Background: The work environment of cocoa farmers exposes them to several ocular hazards that predispose them to eye diseases and injuries. However, the extent of ocular injuries and health seeking patterns following these injuries are unknown among cocoa farmers in Ghana. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of ocular injuries and health seeking behaviour following injury among cocoa farmers in Ghana. Methods: Five hundred and fifty six participants were recruited through simple random sampling using a multistage approach from four cocoa growing districts in Ghana. A structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant information such as demography, ocular hazards and injuries experienced. An ocular examination was also conducted to assess the eye health of the participants. Descriptive and regression statistics were used to analyze the data. The rate of ocular injuries was calculated by using the number of injuries reported that resulted in lost work time/days divided by the number of worker years at risk of injury (sum of years worked in cocoa farms for all the participants). Results: The rate of ocular injuries was 11.3/1000 worker years (95% CI: 9.4 - 31) which led to lost work time of 37.3/1000 worker years (95% CI: 34.1 - 40.8). The major causes of ocular injury were plants/branches (n=73, 51.1%), chemicals (n=27, 18.9%), cocoa pod/husk (n=14, 9.8%) and occurred mostly during weeding, harvesting and chemical spraying. Few (n=34, 6.1%) participants reported the use of ocular protection. Fifty-five (38.5%) participants visited the local chemical shops, while 37 (25.9%) visited hospitals/clinics for ocular treatment of their injuries. Conclusion: There is a high rate of ocular injuries among cocoa farmers who make insufficient use of appropriate eye care services. There is the need for eye health education among cocoa farmers in Ghana. Keywords:

Sociodemographic factors influencing adherence to antenatal iron supplementation recommendations among pregnant women in Malawi: Analysis of data from the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey

Background and Aim: Maternal morbidity and mortality statistics remain unacceptably high in Malawi. Prominent among the risk factors in the country is anaemia in pregnancy, which generally results from nutritional inadequacy (particularly iron deficiency) and malaria, among other factors. This warrants concerted efforts to increase iron intake among reproductive-age women. This study, among women in Malawi, examined factors determining intake of supplemental iron for at least 90 days during pregnancy. Methods: A weighted sample of 10,750 women (46.7%), from the 23,020 respondents of the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS), were utilized for the study. Univariate, bivariate, and regression techniques were employed. While univariate analysis revealed the percent distributions of all variables, bivariate analysis was used to examine the relationships between individual independent variables and adherence to iron supplementation. Chi-square tests of independence were conducted for categorical variables, with the significance level set at P < 0.05. Two binary logistic regression models were used to evaluate the net effect of independent variables on iron supplementation adherence. Results: Thirty-seven percent of the women adhered to the iron supplementation recommendations during pregnancy. Multivariate analysis indicated that younger age, urban residence, higher education, higher wealth status, and attending antenatal care during the first trimester were significantly associated with increased odds of taking iron supplementation for 90 days or more during pregnancy (P < 0.01). Conclusions: The results indicate low adherence to the World Health Organization’s iron supplementation recommendations among pregnant women in Malawi, and this contributes to negative health outcomes for both mothers and children. Focusing on education interventions that target populations with low rates of iron supplement intake, including campaigns to increase the number of women who attend antenatal care clinics in the first trimester, are recommended to increase adherence to iron supplementation recommendations.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN VULNERABLE CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN MGETA, TANZANIA

Increased occurrence of drought and dry spells during the growing season have resulted in increased interest in protection of tropical water catchment areas. In Mgeta, a water catchment area in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, water used for vegetable and fruit production is provided through canals from the Uluguru South Forest Reserve. The clearing of forest land for cultivation in the steep slopes in the area is causing severe land degradation, which is threatening the water catchment area, livelihoods, and food security of the local communities, as well as the major population centers in the lowlands. In this paper, the economic performance of a traditional cropping-livestock system with East African (EA)-goats and pigs and extensive vegetable production is compared with a more sustainable and environmentally friendly crop-dairy goat production system. A linear programming (LP) crop-livestock model, maximizing farm income considering the environmental constraints in the area was applied for studying the economic performance of dairy goats in the production system. The model was worked out for the rainy and dry seasons and the analysis was conducted for a basic scenario representing the current situation, based on the variability in the 30 years period from 1982-2012, and in a scenario of both lower crop yields and increased crop variability due to climate change. Data obtained from a sample of 60 farmers that were interviewed using a questionnaire was used to develop and parameterize the model. The study found that in the steep slopes of the area, a crop-dairy goat system with extensive use of grass and multipurpose trees (MPTs) would do better than the traditional vegetable gardening with the EA goat production system. The crop-dairy goat system was superior both in the basic and in a climate change scenario since the yield variation of the grass and MPTs system was less affected compared to vegetable crops due to more tree cover and the use of perennial grasses. However, the goat milk production in the area was constrained by inadequate feeding and lack of an appropriate breeding program. Hence, farmers should enhance goat milk production by supplementing with more concentrate feed and by implementing goat-breeding principles. Moreover, policy measures to promote such a development are briefly discussed.

ASSESSING THE DETERMINANTS OF TISSUE CULTURE BANANA ADOPTION IN WESTERN KENYA

In this study cross-section data was used to analyze the effect of farmers’ demographic, socioeconomic and institutional setting, market access and physical attributes on the probability and intensity of tissue culture banana (TCB) adoption. The study was carried out between July 2011 and November 2011. Both descriptive (mean, variance, promotions) and regression analysis were used in the analysis. A double hurdle regression model was fitted on the data. Using multistage sampling technique, four counties and eight sub-locations were randomly selected. Using random sampling technique, three hundred and thirty farmers were selected from a list of banana households in the selected sub-locations. The adoption level of tissue culture banana (TCB) was about 32%. The results also revealed that the likelihood of TCB adoption was significantly influenced by: availability of TCB planting material, proportion of banana income to the total farm income, per capita household expenditure and the location of the farmer in Kisii County; while those that significantly influenced the intensity of TCB adoption were: occupation of farmers, family size, labour source, farm size, soil fertility, availability/access of TCB plantlets to farmers, distance to banana market, use of manure in planting banana, access to agricultural extension services and index of TCB/non-TCB banana cultivar attributes which were scored by farmers. Compared to West Pokot County, farmers located in Bungoma County are more significantly and likely to adopt TCB technology. Therefore, the results of the study suggest that the probability of adoption and intensity of the use of TCB should be enhanced. This can be done by taking cognizance of these variables in order to meet the priority needs of the smallholder farmers who were the target group. This would lead to alleviating banana shortage in the region for enhanced food security. Subsequently, actors along the banana value chain are encouraged to target the intervention strategies based on the identified farmer, farm and institutional characteristics for enhanced impact on food provision. Opening up more TCB multiplication centres in different regions will make farmers access the TCB technology for enhanced impact on the target population.