The impact of saving and credit cooperatives on food security in the West Amhara Region of Ethiopia

In rural Ethiopia, among other things, lack of adequate financial service is considered as the basic problem to alleviate rural poverty and to solve the problem of food insecurity. Commercial banks are restricted to urban centres. Providing rural financial service through RUSACCO to the poor has been proposed as a tool for economic development and for achieving food security. Evidence from research in this regard has been so far scanty, especially in rural Ethiopia. The aims of this study are to analyze the determinants of membership, to identify socioeconomic and demographic factors that influence members’ participation in RUSACCOs and to quantify the impact of RUSACCOs on member households’ food security. The study was conducted in two purposely selected woredas in the Amhara region one from food insecure (Lay Gayint woreda) and the other from food secure (Dejen woreda). Six RUSACCOs were selected randomly from these two woredas. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and survey techniques were used to collect primary data. Collected data was then analyzed using mixed methods depending on the nature of data. For quantitative data analysis appropriate statistical models were used. The study result reveals that the number of members in each RUSACCO is very small. However, the majority of non-member respondents are willing to join RUSACCO. Lack of information about the benefits of RUSACCO membership is the main problem why many rural poor do not join RUSACCOs. Members participate in different aspects of the cooperatives, starting from attending general assembly up to board membership. They also participate actively in saving and borrowing activities of RUSACCO. The majority of the respondents believe the RUSACCO is a vital instrument in combating food insecurity. The empirical findings indicate that gender, marital status, occupation, educational level, participation in local leadership and participation in other income generation means determine the decision of rural poor to join a RUSACCO or not. The amount of saving is determined by household head occupation, farming experience and income level. While age of household head, primary occupation, farming experience, date of membership, annual total consumption expenditure, amount of saving and participation in other income generation activities influence members’ amount of borrowing by RUSACCO members. Finally, the study confirms that RUSACCO participation improves household food security. RUSACCO membership has made positive impact on household total consumption expenditure and food expenditure.

Novel structured emulsions for delivering of food flavours

Flavour release from food is determined by the binding of flavours to other food ingredients and the partition of flavour molecules among different phases. Food emulsions are used as delivery systems for food flavours, and tailored structuring in emulsions provides novel means to better control flavour release. The current study investigated four structured oil-in-water emulsions with structuring in the oil phase, oil-water interface, and water phase. Oil phase structuring was achieved by the formation of monoglyceride (MG) liquid crystals in the oil droplets (MG structured emulsions). Structured interface was created by the adsorption of a whey protein isolate (WPI)-pectin double layer at the interface (multilayer emulsion). Water phase structured emulsions referred to emulsion filled protein gels (EFP gels), where emulsion droplets were embedded in WPI gel network, and emulsions with maltodextrins (MDs) of different dextrose-equivalent (DE) values. Flavour compounds with different physicochemical properties were added into the emulsions, and flavour release (release rate, headspace concentration and air-emulsion partition coefficient) was described by GC headspace analysis. Emulsion structures, including crystalline structure, particle size, emulsion stability, rheology, texture, and microstructures, were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction, light scattering, multisample analytical centrifuge, rheometry, texture analysis, and confocal laser scanning microscopy, respectively. In MG structured emulsions, MG self-assembled into liquid crystalline structures and stable β-form crystals were formed after 3 days of storage at 25 °C. The inclusion of MG crystals allowed tween 20 stabilized emulsions to present viscoelastic properties, and it made WPI stabilized emulsions more sensitive to the change of pH and NaCl concentrations. Flavour compounds in MG structured emulsions had lower initial headspace concentration and air-emulsion partition coefficients than those in unstructured emulsions. Flavour release can be modulated by changing MG content, oil content and oil type. WPI-pectin multilayer emulsions were stable at pH 5.0, 4.0, and 3.0, but they presented extensive creaming when subjected to salt solutions with NaCl ≥ 150 mM and mixed with artificial salivas. Increase of pH from 5.0 to 7.0 resulted in higher headspace concentration but unchanged release rate, and increase of NaCl concentration led to increased headspace concentration and release rate. The study also showed that salivas could trigger higher release of hydrophobic flavours and lower release of hydrophilic flavours. In EFP gels, increases in protein content and oil content contributed to gels with higher storage modulus and force at breaking. Flavour compounds had significantly reduced release rates and air-emulsion partition coefficients in the gels than the corresponding ungelled emulsions, and the reduction was in line with the increase of protein content. Gels with stronger gel network but lower oil content were prepared, and lower or unaffected release rates of the flavours were observed. In emulsions containing maltodextrins, water was frozen at a much lower temperature, and emulsion stability was greatly improved when subjected to freeze-thawing. Among different MDs, MD DE 6 offered the emulsion the highest stability. Flavours had lower air-emulsion partition coefficients in the emulsions with MDs than those in the emulsion without MD. Moreover, the involvement of MDs in the emulsions allowed most flavours had similar release profiles before and after freeze-thaw treatment. The present study provided information about different structured emulsions as delivery systems for flavour compounds, and on how food structure can be designed to modulate flavour release, which could be helpful in the development of functional foods with improved flavour profile.

Studies on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) for novel food and beverage applications

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is a seed crop native to the Andes, that can be used in a variety of food product in a similar manner to cereals. Unlike most plants, quinoa contains protein with a balanced amino acid profile. This makes it an interesting raw material for e.g. dairy product substitutes, a growing market in Europe and U.S. Quinoa can however have unpleasant off-flavours when processed into formulated products. One means of improving the palatability is seed germination. Also, the increased activities of hydrolytic enzymes can have a beneficial influence in food processing. In this thesis, the germination pattern of quinoa was studied, and the influence of quinoa malt was evaluated in a model product. Additionally, to explore its potential for dairy-type products, quinoa protein was isolated from an embryo-enriched milling fraction of non-germinated quinoa and tested for functional and gelation properties. Quinoa seeds imbibed water very rapidly, and most seeds showed radicle protrusion after 8-9 h. The α-amylase activity was very low, and started to increase only after 24 hours of germination in the starchy perisperm. Proteolytic activity was very high in dry ungerminated seeds, and increased slightly over 24 h. A significant fraction of this activity was located in the micropylar endosperm. The incorporation of germinated quinoa in gluten-free bread had no significant effect on the baking properties due to low α-amylase activity. Upon acidification with glucono-δ-lactone, quinoa milk formed a structured gel. The gelation behaviour was further studied using a quinoa protein isolate (QPI) extracted from an embryoenriched milling fraction. QPI required a heat-denaturation step to form gel structures. The heating pH influenced the properties drastically: heating at pH 10.5 led to a dramatic increase in solubility, emulsifying properties, and a formation of a fine-structured gel with a high storage modulus (G') when acidified. Heating at pH 8.5 varied very little from the unheated protein in terms of functional properties, and only formed a randomly aggregated coagulum with a low G'. Further study of changes over the course of heating showed that the mechanism of heat-denaturation and aggregation indeed varied largely depending on pH. The large difference in gelation behaviour may be related to the nature of aggregates formed during heating. To conclude, germination for increased enzyme activities may not be feasible, but the structure-forming properties of quinoa protein could possibly be exploited in dairy-type products.

Interaction strengths and net effects in food web models

Understanding how dynamic ecological communities respond to anthropogenic drivers of change such as habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change and the introduction of alien species requires that there is a theoretical framework able to predict community dynamics. At present there is a lack of empirical data that can be used to inform and test predictive models, which means that much of our knowledge regarding the response of ecological communities to perturbations is obtained from theoretical analyses and simulations. This thesis is composed of two strands of research: an empirical experiment conducted to inform the scaling of intraspecific and interspecific interaction strengths in a three species food chain and a series of theoretical analyses on the changes to equilibrium biomass abundances following press perturbations. The empirical experiment is a consequence of the difficulties faced when parameterising the intraspecific interaction strengths in a Lotka-Volterra model. A modification of the dynamic index is used alongside the original dynamic index to estimate intraspecific interactions and interspecific interaction strengths in a three species food. The theoretical analyses focused on the effect of press perturbations to focal species on the equilibrium biomass densities of all species in the community; these perturbations allow for the quantification of a species total net effect. It was found that there is a strong and consistent positive relationship between a species body size and its total net effect for a set of 97 synthetic food webs and also for the Ythan Estuary and Tuesday Lake food webs (empirically described food webs). It is shown that ecological constraints (due to allometric scaling) on the magnitude of entries in the community matrix cause the patterns observed in the inverse community matrix and thus explain the relationship between a species body mass and its total net effect in a community.

Public evaluations of novel food technologies: a qualitative citizen-scientist deliberative discourse approach

This qualitative research expands understanding of how information about a range of Novel Food Technologies (NFTs) is used and assimilated, and the implications of this on the evolution of attitudes and acceptance. This work enhances theoretical and applied understanding of citizens’ evaluative processes around these technologies. The approach applied involved observations of interactive exchanges between citizens and information providers (i.e. food scientists), during which they discussed a specific technology. This flexible, yet structured, approach revealed how individuals construct meaning around information about specific NFTs. A rich dataset of 42 ‘deliberate discourse’ and 42 postdiscourse transcripts was collected. Data analysis encompassed three stages: an initial descriptive account of the complete dataset based on the top-down bottom-up (TDBU) model of attitude formation, followed by inductive and deductive thematic analysis across the selected technology groups. The hybrid thematic analysis undertaken identified a Conceptual Model, which represents a holistic perspective on the influences and associated features directing ‘sense-making’ and ultimate evaluations around the technology clusters. How individuals make sense of these technologies is shaped by: their beliefs, values and personal characteristics; their perceptions of power and control over the application of the technology; and, the assumed relevance of the technology and its applications within different contexts. These influences form the frame for the creation of sense-making around the technologies. Internal negotiations between these influences are evident and evaluations are based on the relative importance of each influence to the individual, which tend to contribute to attitude ambivalence and instability. The findings indicate the processes of forming and changing attitudes towards these technologies are: complex; dependent on characteristics of the individual, technology, application and product; and, impacted by the nature and forms of information provided. Challenges are faced in engaging with the public about these technologies, as levels of knowledge, understanding and interest vary.

The defining characteristics of alternative food initiatives in Ireland: a social movement battling for an alternative food future?

Alternative food initiatives (AFIs) have been described as an attempt to change and improve aspects of how the food system operates. They are focused around more traditional, local and sustainable food production and circulation. AFIs such as farmers’ markets, allotments and community gardens, share a desire to reduce the number of steps food goes through from production to plate. The role of these initiatives in the food system, and their potential to impact real change, has however been questioned. Working to better understand this issue is a central concern of this research. To do this a two tier analysis has been deployed. The first tier involves identifying the characteristics and general dynamics of AFIs. Bourdieu’s theory of practice, and the theories of field and capital, are the concepts applied. The research then uses these findings in the second tier of analysis concerned with relating AFI characteristics and dynamics back to their key traits, positive and negative, as well as arguments made about AFI’s role identified from previous research. Another part of this second tier of analysis is exploring if AFIs, the producers, consumers, organisations and groups that make up this phenomenon, can be considered a social movement. AFIs can be referred to collectively as a social movement, but are not often explored theoretically from this perspective. AFIs in Ireland provide the empirical context for this research. A series of qualitative interviews in four areas of Ireland, as well as evidence from primary and secondary sources are analysed. The research finds that AFIs can be understood as the potential beginnings of a lifestyle social movement. Leaders are of central importance to its development. It is also found that an important role of AFIs is revitalising, supporting and contributing to food culture.

Identifying novel molecular mechanisms of ghrelin receptor signalling underlying neural control of food intake: interaction with stress and impulsivity

The gut-hormone, ghrelin, activates the centrally expressed growth hormone secretagogue 1a (GHS-R1a) receptor, or ghrelin receptor. The ghrelin receptor is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) expressed in several brain regions, including the arcuate nucleus (Arc), lateral hypothalamus (LH), ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala. Activation of the GHS-R1a mediates a multitude of biological activities, including release of growth hormone and food intake. The ghrelin signalling system also plays a key role in the hedonic aspects of food intake and activates the dopaminergic mesolimbic circuit involved in reward signalling. Recently, ghrelin has been shown to be involved in mediating a stress response and to mediate stress-induced food reward behaviour via its interaction with the HPA-axis at the level of the anterior pituitary. Here, we focus on the role of the GHS-R1a receptor in reward behaviour, including the motivation to eat, its anxiogenic effects, and its role in impulsive behaviour. We investigate the functional selectivity and pharmacology of GHS-R1a receptor ligands as well as crosstalk of the GHS-R1a receptor with the serotonin 2C (5-HT2C) receptor, which represent another major target in the regulation of eating behaviour, stress-sensitivity and impulse control disorders. We demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, the direct impact of GHS-R1a signalling on impulsive responding in a 2-choice serial reaction time task (2CSRTT) and show a role for the 5-HT2C receptor in modulating amphetamine-associated impulsive action. Finally, we investigate differential gene expression patterns in the mesocorticolimbic pathway, specifically in the NAcc and PFC, between innate low- and high-impulsive rats. Together, these findings are poised to have important implications in the development of novel treatment strategies to combat eating disorders, including obesity and binge eating disorders as well as impulse control disorders, including, substance abuse and addiction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and mood disorders.

Typical delay determines waiting time on periodic-food schedules: Static and dynamic tests.

Pigeons and other animals soon learn to wait (pause) after food delivery on periodic-food schedules before resuming the food-rewarded response. Under most conditions the steady-state duration of the average waiting time, t, is a linear function of the typical interfood interval. We describe three experiments designed to explore the limits of this process. In all experiments, t was associated with one key color and the subsequent food delay, T, with another. In the first experiment, we compared the relation between t (waiting time) and T (food delay) under two conditions: when T was held constant, and when T was an inverse function of t. The pigeons could maximize the rate of food delivery under the first condition by setting t to a consistently short value; optimal behavior under the second condition required a linear relation with unit slope between t and T. Despite this difference in optimal policy, the pigeons in both cases showed the same linear relation, with slope less than one, between t and T. This result was confirmed in a second parametric experiment that added a third condition, in which T + t was held constant. Linear waiting appears to be an obligatory rule for pigeons. In a third experiment we arranged for a multiplicative relation between t and T (positive feedback), and produced either very short or very long waiting times as predicted by a quasi-dynamic model in which waiting time is strongly determined by the just-preceding food delay.

Hypoallergenic legume crops and food allergy: factors affecting feasibility and risk.

Currently, the sole strategy for managing food hypersensitivity involves strict avoidance of the trigger. Several alternate strategies for the treatment of food allergies are currently under study. Also being explored is the process of eliminating allergenic proteins from crop plants. Legumes are a rich source of protein and are an essential component of the human diet. Unfortunately, legumes, including soybean and peanut, are also common sources of food allergens. Four protein families and superfamilies account for the majority of legume allergens, which include storage proteins of seeds (cupins and prolamins), profilins, and the larger group of pathogenesis-related proteins. Two strategies have been used to produce hypoallergenic legume crops: (1) germplasm lines are screened for the absence or reduced content of specific allergenic proteins and (2) genetic transformation is used to silence native genes encoding allergenic proteins. Both approaches have been successful in producing cultivars of soybeans and peanuts with reduced allergenic proteins. However, it is unknown whether the cultivars are actually hypoallergenic to those with sensitivity. This review describes efforts to produce hypoallergenic cultivars of soybean and peanut and discusses the challenges that need to be overcome before such products could be available in the marketplace.

The evolutionary origins of human patience: temporal preferences in chimpanzees, bonobos, and human adults.

To make adaptive choices, individuals must sometimes exhibit patience, forgoing immediate benefits to acquire more valuable future rewards [1-3]. Although humans account for future consequences when making temporal decisions [4], many animal species wait only a few seconds for delayed benefits [5-10]. Current research thus suggests a phylogenetic gap between patient humans and impulsive, present-oriented animals [9, 11], a distinction with implications for our understanding of economic decision making [12] and the origins of human cooperation [13]. On the basis of a series of experimental results, we reject this conclusion. First, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit a degree of patience not seen in other animals tested thus far. Second, humans are less willing to wait for food rewards than are chimpanzees. Third, humans are more willing to wait for monetary rewards than for food, and show the highest degree of patience only in response to decisions about money involving low opportunity costs. These findings suggest that core components of the capacity for future-oriented decisions evolved before the human lineage diverged from apes. Moreover, the different levels of patience that humans exhibit might be driven by fundamental differences in the mechanisms representing biological versus abstract rewards.

Chimpanzees and bonobos distinguish between risk and ambiguity.

Although recent research has investigated animal decision-making under risk, little is known about how animals choose under conditions of ambiguity when they lack information about the available alternatives. Many models of choice behaviour assume that ambiguity does not impact decision-makers, but studies of humans suggest that people tend to be more averse to choosing ambiguous options than risky options with known probabilities. To illuminate the evolutionary roots of human economic behaviour, we examined whether our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), share this bias against ambiguity. Apes chose between a certain option that reliably provided an intermediately preferred food type, and a variable option that could vary in the probability that it provided a highly preferred food type. To examine the impact of ambiguity on ape decision-making, we interspersed trials in which chimpanzees and bonobos had no knowledge about the probabilities. Both species avoided the ambiguous option compared with their choices for a risky option, indicating that ambiguity aversion is shared by humans, bonobos and chimpanzees.

A fruit in the hand or two in the bush? Divergent risk preferences in chimpanzees and bonobos.

Human and non-human animals tend to avoid risky prospects. If such patterns of economic choice are adaptive, risk preferences should reflect the typical decision-making environments faced by organisms. However, this approach has not been widely used to examine the risk sensitivity in closely related species with different ecologies. Here, we experimentally examined risk-sensitive behaviour in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), closely related species whose distinct ecologies are thought to be the major selective force shaping their unique behavioural repertoires. Because chimpanzees exploit riskier food sources in the wild, we predicted that they would exhibit greater tolerance for risk in choices about food. Results confirmed this prediction: chimpanzees significantly preferred the risky option, whereas bonobos preferred the fixed option. These results provide a relatively rare example of risk-prone behaviour in the context of gains and show how ecological pressures can sculpt economic decision making.

Incorporating grape seed antioxidants into a functional food model

Gemstone Team IMMUNE (Innovative Medicines for Maladies Utilizing Nutraceutical Enhancements)

Sensory information and associative cues used in food detection by wild vervet monkeys.

Understanding animals' spatial perception is a critical step toward discerning their cognitive processes. The spatial sense is multimodal and based on both the external world and mental representations of that world. Navigation in each species depends upon its evolutionary history, physiology, and ecological niche. We carried out foraging experiments on wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda, to determine the types of cues used to detect food and whether associative cues could be used to find hidden food. Our first and second set of experiments differentiated between vervets' use of global spatial cues (including the arrangement of feeding platforms within the surrounding vegetation) and/or local layout cues (the position of platforms relative to one another), relative to the use of goal-object cues on each platform. Our third experiment provided an associative cue to the presence of food with global spatial, local layout, and goal-object cues disguised. Vervets located food above chance levels when goal-object cues and associative cues were present, and visual signals were the predominant goal-object cues that they attended to. With similar sample sizes and methods as previous studies on New World monkeys, vervets were not able to locate food using only global spatial cues and local layout cues, unlike all five species of platyrrhines thus far tested. Relative to these platyrrhines, the spatial location of food may need to stay the same for a longer time period before vervets encode this information, and goal-object cues may be more salient for them in small-scale space.