Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / Rational and Objectives The objective of this study was to determine socio-demographic, socio-economic, health status, dietary diversity, nutrition adequacy, food consumption patterns, coping strategies, and agricultural practices in relation to food insecurity and nutritional status of elderly population in Mpharane. Methodology The sample size was n=260 participants with 75 men and 185 women. A variety of variables were used to measure the objectives and different types of questionnaires were used as measuring instruments for all the variables of the study. Socio-demographic questionnaires determined household indicators like age, employment status, and number of dependents, living conditions and assets. Anthropometrics measurements that were conducted included height, weight and blood pressure. Health status questionnaires included indictors such as consumption of alcohol, smoking, food allergies and affected parts of the body. Food frequency score, dietary intake and nutrition adequacy were established. Coping strategies in the household were determined for the period of food insecurity. Agricultural practices questionnaires were to determined household indictors like land, types of crops and livestock. The completed Socio-demographic Questionnaires, Health Questionnaires, Food Frequency Questionnaires, Anthropometric Measurements Forms, Coping Strategies Questionnaires and the Agricultural Practices Questionnaire were captured on a Microsoft Excel® Spreadsheet by the researcher and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.0, with the assistance of a statistician. Results Results indicated that all participants resided with grandchildren. Majority of grandmothers headed the households. All participants were unemployed and 61.20% often had shortage of money to buy food. Nutrient analysis from 24-Hour Food Recall indicated deficient intake in energy, calcium and vitamin A. There were high levels of food insecurity among the participants since all the participants used all 15 coping strategies. The Body Mass Index (BMI) results indicated 65.50% of participants were overweight, 60.70% obese and 13.60% were underweight. Majority of participants had access to land for plantation. All Participants suffered from various health aliments. The history of health associated with diseases indicating that 24.60% (n=64) of the participants had reported skin diseases, 71.20% (n=185) of the participants suffered from diseases of skeleton or joints and 81.90% (n=213) of the participants indicated affected eyes, ears, nose and teeth. Diseases of the chest or respiratory system were experienced by 50.80% (n=132) of the participants. The total fat intake of all the groups was slightly below the recommended goal by the World Health Organization WHO (15-30%), with men obtaining 13.33% and women 12.55% of energy from fat. Carbohydrates contributed 75.12% for men and 75.41% for women of the daily energy needs in the groups, slightly above the levels recommended by the WHO (55-75%). The contribution of protein to total daily energy intake for all the groups was within the recommendation of 10-15%, men (11.56%) and women (12.07%). As a result this proves that the average participant consumed a balanced diet in terms of the macronutrient intake. Carbohydrates were the main source of food consumption. The highest number of individual foods consumed by the majority of the participants was between 6-10 individual foods (53.46%, n=139) followed by 11-15 individual foods (39.23%, n=102). The mean Food Variety Score (FVS) (±SD) for all the foods consumed from the food groups during seven days was 10.06 (±6.726), which indicated a low food variety score. The food group with the most variety was the cereal group. Seven different cereals were consumed by (1.53%, n=4) participants, a large number of the participants (31.15%, n=81) only consumed 3 different cereals within seven day period and (23.46%, n=61) of the participants consumed 4 different cereals. Conclusion The grandparents were the principle providers for the grandchildren and the demographic pressures, unemployment and old age increased the financial strains which contributed to high levels of poverty resulting in food and nutrition insecurity and poor nutritional status of the elderly people. / M

Cette thèse de doctorat en économie s’inscrit dans le grand débat sur la rareté des ressources en eau et des impacts potentiels sur nos économies et notre sécurité alimentaire. Avec l’usage d’outils quantitatifs et économétriques, elle étudie les mécanismes de répartition de l’eau d’abord lorsqu’elle doit être partagée par plusieurs pays et ensuite lorsqu’elle est utilisée par l’agriculture et expédiée à travers les aliments sous forme virtuelle par le commerce international alimentaire.Le premier chapitre, co-écrit avec Prof. Eric Strobl, étudie les conflits de l’eau entre pays Africains situés en amont-aval d’un fleuve et contraints de partager la ressource. Entre 1949 et 2007 nous trouvons peu de traces de conflits, même si la paix est souvent contingente à une situation égalitaire en termes d’accès à l’eau. En effet, c’est l’asymétrie de l’approvisionnement qui est en jeu mais le pays en aval, défavorisé par sa position, arrive souvent à contrecarrer ce désavantage en exerçant une pression économique sur ses voisins (comme dans le cas de l’Egypte, à l’aval, face à l’Ethiopie). Nos analyses montrent également que l’absence de coopération ne présage en rien des coopérations futures, un résultat encourageant pour les bassins transfrontaliers où l’entente est encore difficile.Le deuxième chapitre, co-écrit avec Prof. Shlomi Dinar, s’intéresse à la question des avantages comparatifs liés à l’eau dans le commerce international alimentaire. En étudiant les flux commerciaux entre 1994 et 2007, on comprend que les pays les plus pauvres en eau sont bien obligés d’importer les produits qu’ils ne peuvent eux-mêmes produire sur place, faute d’eau. Il y a un bien un avantage comparatif à la ressource. En revanche, nous montrons qu’en termes de productivité-eau (la quantité produite par litre d’eau utilisé), les pays s’échangent des biens pour lesquels ils n’ont pas nécessairement d’avantage, voire bien le contraire. L’eau est donc négligée dans l’équation lorsqu’il s’agit des stratégies de production et d’exports.La thèse se penche ensuite sur ces pays pauvres en eau et pourtant souvent dépendants du secteur agricole. En particulier, le troisième chapitre s’inspire des théories qui suggèrent que le développement économique va de pair avec la diversification de la production et des exportations. Or un manque d’eau contraint nécessairement les pays dans leur stratégie de diversification. Nous montrons que les pays avec eau rare et une productivité-eau faible ne peuvent se développer par l’agriculture, à moins de se concentrer sur un petit nombre de produits. Investir dans des technologies de l’eau pour un nombre restreint de produits permet d’intensifier la production et d’avoir des externalités positives sur d’autres cultures potentielles. La concentration est donc souhaitable avant la diversification. Une meilleure gestion de l’eau (dans sa quantité et sa productivité) peut ainsi, à terme, être bénéfique pour le développement économique. / This thesis contributes to the ongoing debate about whether water scarcity will lead to growing water conflicts and potential threats to food security. Using quantitative and econometric tools, it addresses the empirical allocation of water resources in the context of shared water and international trade of agriculture.Chapter 1, co-authored with Prof. Eric Strobl, studies transboundary water management between upstream and downstream African countries (1949-2007). We find very little evidence for water conflicts over the years, even though cooperation is likelier when there is little economic and water asymmetries between countries. We also show that wealthy downstream nations mostly take the lead in cooperation, allowing geographical asymmetries to be offset by economics. Results indicate that cooperation is independent from the past, meaning that transboundary basins with a history of tensions over water may likely cooperate in the near future.Chapter 2, co-authored with Prof. Shlomi Dinar, investigates whether countries produce and trade food according to their comparative advantage in water. Using panel data of bilateral trade at a global level (1994-2007), we find that the driest countries use trade as a means to alleviate water scarcity. Relative water productivity and food trade display an inverted u-shape, suggesting a threshold effect in demand and a disregard for water resources relative to the lack of other inputs (such as capital, technology or qualified labor) in water-scarce countries. Countries do not take water endowments enough into consideration when deciding about production and food is traded in the wrong direction, from less to relatively more water productive nations.Because agricultural-dependence is water-dependence, we end by asking whether water scarcity can be a threat to development. Chapter 3 shows that exports concentrate with growth but diversify with water availability. The interaction effect is positive, suggesting that countries, as they develop, concentrate on fewer products for which they have comparative advantage in water. As water intensive goods display lower subsistence in time in water-scarce countries, we argue that inefficient management of water prevents countries from developing and exiting the state of water/agriculture dependency and slow growth. We recommend that water-scarce countries focus on improving the water footprint of a small number of goods in order to trigger positive spillovers.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Nigeria has over 100 million people living below the US$1.90 poverty line. Most of these poor people are rural smallholder farmers. Agricultural interventions are ongoing to alleviate poverty and food insecurity amongst smallholder farmers in Nigeria, but these interventions have been less successful when compared to similar interventions implemented by developed countries. One such intervention in Nigeria is the Fadama III project. It is against this background that this study evaluated the development impact of the Fadama III project on the agricultural yield, food security, and income of smallholder farmers. The aim was to draw lessons from the evaluated project that would guide the design of future agricultural projects that are more effective. Using primary data from 300 farmers, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, probit regression, propensity score matching, and a quasi-experimental research design, this study found that the Fadama III project increases agricultural yield (rice yield), three dimensions of food security (food availability, food access, food utility), and some type of income (income from cassava production) of smallholder farmers in Ebonyi State. However, Fadama III does not significantly cause an increase in the food stability dimension of food security and other types of income like income from rice production. It also found that youth and female farmers are under-represented in Fadama III project. Also

全文ファイル差し替え（2021-07-01） / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 乙第13250号 / 論地博第22号 / 新制||地||94(附属図書館) / (主査)教授 水野 広祐, 教授 安藤 和雄, 教授 速水 洋子 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

Introduction: The present study aims to understand how the absence of food security and breastfeeding in children at one year of age, which can be considered as adverse childhood experiences, may be associated with brain function as measured by the relative and absolute power spectral density of four frequency bands of brain waves (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) among a sample of infants from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds at age 12 months old. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used by the parent study, Baby’s First Years (BFY), to collect quantitative data to understand the associations between breastfeeding, food insecurity, and brain function in a sample of 243 low-SES mothers and their infants at age 12 months old. Breastfeeding was measured as ever breastfed, to understand if a mother had ever initiated breastfeeding of their infant, and breastfeeding duration, measured in months. Household food insecurity (HFI) was measured using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module Short Form devised by the USDA. Electroencephalography (EEG) data was collected to assess brain function. Data Analysis: Data was analyzed to determine associations between being ever breastfed, breastfeeding duration, and the presence of HFI and EEG measured relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta, and gamma power in infants at 12 months of age using multiple linear regression (MLR) models based on ordinary least squares (OLS). Results: 77% (n=187) of mothers reported breastfeeding their child at least one time. The mean breastfeeding duration (including the mothers that never breastfed) was 3.6 months (SD=4.12). 27.6% (n=67) of mothers were found to be food insecure. Ever breastfeeding an infant during the first year of life was found to be associated with higher absolute theta power (p<0.05), and higher relative and absolute alpha power (p<0.01). Breastfeeding duration was not found to be associated with relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta or gamma power. Finally, the presence of food insecurity was not found to be associated with relative and absolute theta, alpha, beta or gamma power. Discussion: Differences in brain function may be adaptive for children experiencing adversity because of their lower SES, amongst other factors (Ellis et al., 2020). Ever breastfeeding an infant was associated with higher absolute theta power, which was an unexpected finding. However, relative theta power was not associated with ever breastfeeding, and therefore this finding must cautiously be interpreted. Ever breastfeeding an infant was associated with higher relative and absolute alpha power. It is possible that the increases in relative and absolute alpha power within the sample of infants who were ever breastfed are in part due to the emotional connection that breastfeeding elicits and the characteristics of mothers that decide to initiate breastfeeding as compared to those that do not initiate breastfeeding. This research demonstrates significant associations between ever breastfeeding an infant with brain function in a population of infants from diverse, low SES backgrounds. In contextualizing these changes in brain function as plausible adaptations that infants are developing due to their experiences, an opportunity exists to further explore these associations with brain function to understand the skills that low SES infants are developing during the first year of life.

This project examines food systems and hunger in relation to city planning, and results in a draft strategic plan to address the food security and nutritional needs of San Luis Obispo County’s most vulnerable residents. This Draft Plan is submitted to the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County as part of the Hunger-Free Community Project. The Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County was the lead agency of a USDA Hunger-Free Communities planning grant awarded in 2011. With this grant, the Food Bank convened a group of stakeholders to form the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition, and worked with community partners to conduct three studies on existing food resources, food security, and nutritional need in San Luis Obispo County. The outcome of this project is a draft of the third component of the grant – the creation of a strategic plan to address hunger and improve nutrition in San Luis Obispo County. San Luis Obispo County is a rural region rich in agricultural production, but hunger is a growing problem in the County indicating deficiencies in the local food system. One in six residents do not know where their next meal will come from. A high cost of living coupled with many low-wage jobs leaves many residents with few financial resources from which to provide food and other basic necessities. This project reviewed current professional and academic literature on food systems, hunger, and planning; conducted a case study analysis on existing hunger plans; compiled a background report on the existing hunger situation and community needs in the County; and worked with the San Luis Obispo County Food System Coalition to create the Draft Hunger-Free Community Plan for San Luis Obispo County. The Draft Plan and Background Report are organized into five themes: Food Access, Nutrition & Hunger, Local Agriculture, Community Resources and the SLO County Food System Coalition. As this plan is only a draft, the next steps that need to be taken before final adoption of the plan are outlined. This plan is a community plan; it will require the work and support of many organizations and agencies to effectively end hunger in the County.

Since its foundation, Lean practices have played crucial role in reduction of wastes in a given process to maximize efficiency. Adoption of Lean practices in several industries have opened wide scope to study its impact on many fields such as agricultural sector. Post-harvest stage within agricultural supply chain is known to have gaps in terms of assuring good storage practices. The losses at post-harvest level have significantly impacted the availability of sufficient food for global population. These losses occur due to lack of compliances with good management practices. The literature of this study identifies shortfalls in the management practices of the grain storage containers in United States. The grain elevators are most common technology in use which assures the security of the raw food grains after harvest stage and right before its transfer to next stage. Adoption of good management practices by grain elevators thus becomes crucial to secure the safety of the nutritional quality of the grains which is vital to ensure food security and keep food losses low.<div><br></div><div>The thesis considers the shortfalls associated with the management practices of grain elevators and propose to adopt Lean as a solution. The outcomes of this research present a descriptive analysis of the lean readiness survey completed by the superintendents of the grain elevators in corn belt region of United States (primarily in Illinois and Indiana). The lean readiness results reveal the extent to which the elevators are ready to adopt lean practices.The research also identifies the readiness level which indicates highest as well as lowest level of readiness levels towards lean adoption. The conclusion presents the summary of final outcomes of lean readiness level based on the surveyed elevator superintendents.<br></div>

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Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / South Africa’s population is more than 60% urbanised. Although food poverty has historically been associated with rural communities, this is no longer the case. With sustained urbanisation, food insecurity is now being experienced in the urban areas as well. The aim of this study was therefore to assess household food security levels and determinants, and to examine household food security coping strategies in Brazzaville informal settlement, Pretoria. The study adopted a quantitative approach which involved the collection of information through a standardised household questionnaire. A statistically representative sample of 95 households participated in the study. Household questionnaires were used to collect information on household demographics, income and expenditure statistics, poverty data as well as household food access issues. In terms of data analysis, the survey used three measures of household food insecurity: a) the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Indicator (HFIAP); b) the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS); and c) the Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP) measurements of household food access. The survey results indicate that 29.5% of households in Brazzaville informal settlement were food secure and 70.5% food insecure. Contrary to conventional wisdom of female-headed households being the most food insecure, results of this study show that maleheaded households were the most food insecure. In addition, households with low incomes, low level of education, and high unemployment were also likely to be food insecure. The results of the regression analysis suggest that gender, household income, and employment influences household food security. The probability of food security decreases if household is headed by a female, because females can adopt multiple coping strategies. The study concludes that food insecurity coping strategies vary significantly from one household to another according to their expenses, objectives and constrains. Keywords: Household food insecurity, urbanisation, livelihood, Brazzaville informal settlement, coping strategies. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Les mutations et la libéralisation des marchés agricoles et alimentaires mondiaux ont accéléré la formation de relations verticales entre producteurs et firmes agro-industrielles et la diffusion de l’agriculture dite contractuelle dans les secteurs de la production et de la commercialisation des produits agricoles. L'agriculture contractuelle est un accord entre un exploitant agricole et un acheteur (ou entreprise), établi avant la saison de production, pour une quantité et une qualité spécifiques du produit, avec sa datede livraison à un prix parfois préétabli. Le contrat garantit au producteur la vente assurée de sa production et une assistance technique et financière (crédit, technologie,intrants agricoles). L'acheteur quant à lui, a la garantie d'une offre régulière du produit et du contrôle de la qualité.Cette thèse vise à évaluer le rôle de l'agriculture contractuelle dans la durabilité des chaînes de valeur du riz au Vietnam.Dans la sphère sociale de la durabilité, nous avons démontré que les modèles d’agriculture contractuelle privilégient davantage les moyennes ou grandes exploitations agricoles du fait des coûts de transaction accompagnant le contrat et le volume de production désiré. Cela engendre l’exclusion des petits agriculteurs qui ont de faibles capacités de production. Toutefois, la participation à un système d'intégration horizontale permet de lever cette contrainte. Sur le plan économique, les producteurs sous contrat gagnent plus que les producteurs sans contrat (environ 121 USD/hectare). Finalement, sur le plan environnemental, les producteurs sous contrat sont disposés à adopter des pratiques respectueuses de l'environnement. Cependant, les coûts élevés des certifications environnementales découragent les firmes à inclure ces normes environnementales dans les attributs de contrat. / In recent years, the structure of the Vietnamese rice sector has changed. From a highly fragmented value chain producing rice for low value-added markets, the shift toward more vertically integrated and coordinated value chains through contract farming has begun to emerge. Contract farming is used as a tool to govern more effectively rice quality and penetrate new and lucrative markets for higher quality rice.Many empirical studies have assessed the role of contract farming in developing economies. Contract farming is perceived as an engine for rural development and a golden opportunity for farmers to have direct access to modern markets, agricultural inputs, credit, and technical support. Worldwide, contract farming adoption is promoted as an institutional innovation. In the Vietnamese rice sector, there is a specific legislation to encourage its diffusion such as the Small Farm Large Field program.This thesis aims at assessing the contribution of contract farming to internalize sustainable production standards in rice value chains. The central assumption of this thesis is that some contract attributes may contribute to improving sustainability. A set of attributes of performance declined in sustainable indicators was selected to test our research hypothesis. The attributes of performance stem from the Sustainable Rice Platform’s principles of sustainable rice production and the existing contract attributes in the Mekong River Delta.In the economic dimension of sustainability, we found that participation in contract farming improves the welfare of rice farmers as farmers selling their paddy using a contract gain, on average, $121 per hectare of paddy more compared to farmers producing outside of a contract. The increase in price is mainly a result of an increase in the selling price (price premium).In the social principle of sustainability, we found that participation in contract farming could improve the welfare of small rice farmers through rent and risk-sharing. Export firms share some of its profits with farmers through a price premium. However, due to the large heterogeneity of contract farming models in the Vietnamese rice sector, not all contract models facilitate risk-sharing. In a marketing contract, farmers bear all the production risks whereas in resource contracts some of the production risks may shift to the export firms. Therefore, resource contracts are more likely to improve equity through risk-sharing between farmers and export firms. Moreover, participation in resource contracts is found to improve farmers’ financial inclusion. Export firms are willing to prefinance farmers under contract. However, the opportunity cost of prefinancing may include the loss of farmers’ autonomy. Evidence from our discrete choice experiment reveals a conflicting interest between farmers and export firms regarding the decision rights in a contract. Last but not least, smallest farmers were excluded from contract farming as firms did not always want to support the transaction costs of dealing with numerous individual farmers. However, our findings suggest that the scale-bias could be successfully relaxed through the Small Farm Large Field program.Finally, in the environmental dimension of sustainability, we examined both firms’ and farmers’ prospective responses to the internalization of sustainability through contract farming using an experimental approach. Farmers are found willing to internalize the environmental dimension of sustainability through contract farming in exchange for a price premium. Export firms are found less likely to implement the GlobalG.A.P./VietGAP or the Pesticide free production standards. The cost of such standard implementation and the lack of institutional support are more likely to justify this outcome.