Research and Development Towards Sustainable Agriculture by Resource-Poor Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Strategic and Organisational Considerations in Linking Farmer Practical Needs with Policies and Scientific Theories

Concerns about sensitive content in born-digital records seem to be a major factor in inhibiting the deposit of public records in dedicated digital repositories in Western countries. These concerns are much exacerbated by the changed nature of the process of reviewing records. The University of Glasgow, working in collaboration with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, received funding to investigate the technology-assisted sensitivity reviewing of born-digital records. As part of this research, some preliminary research in a commonwealth country in Sub-Saharan Africa was carried out. The research, reported in this chapter, was carried out in Malawi by the late Dr. Mathews J. Phiri. He found that already there is a real, albeit limited, demand for technology-assisted sensitivity reviewing of born-digital records in Malawi. The available evidence suggests that within the next decade there is likely to be an increase in the need for effective means of assessing sensitivity in born-digital records.

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E-Service Innovation in Rural Africa Through Value Co-Creation

Handbook of Research on Strategic Alliances and Value Co-Creation in the Service Industry - Advances in Hospitality, Tourism, and the Services Industry ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-2084-9.ch018 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 355-373

Author(s):

Anna Bon ◽

Jaap Gordijn ◽

Hans Akkermans

Keyword(s):

Business Model ◽

Service Innovation ◽

End Users ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Resource Poor ◽

Local Stakeholders ◽

Rural Africa ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Electricity Infrastructure

E-Services have great potential, even in resource-poor environments such as in sub-Saharan Africa. However, contextual factors pose significant challenges for development, feasibility, deployment and sustainability of e-services. This chapter presents a case of e-service value co-creation in a rural context, with targeted end users in regions characterized by limited electricity infrastructure and poor or absent internet, strong diversity in languages spoken, high illiteracy rates and limited purchasing power. It offers a methodology to upfront analyze business model sustainability for e-service innovation in severely resource-constrained contexts. This is illustrated by an extensive case study in which a voice-based microblogging e-service was developed and deployed with local stakeholders in rural Mali.

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Building a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa Review ◽

10.1080/09744053.2019.1688933 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 113-115

Author(s):

Intikhab Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Agriculture ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Sub Saharan

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Towards malaria microscopy at the point-of-contact: an assessment of the diagnostic performance of the Newton Nm1 microscope in Uganda

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s0031182014000833 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 141 (14) ◽

pp. 1819-1825 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

J. RUSSELL STOTHARD ◽

BETTY NABATTE ◽

JOSE C. SOUSA-FIGUEIREDO ◽

NARCIS B. KABATEREINE

Keyword(s):

Confidence Interval ◽

Positive Predictive Value ◽

Predictive Value ◽

Blood Cells ◽

Diagnostic Performance ◽

White Blood Cells ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Resource Poor ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Malaria Microscopy

SUMMARYMalaria microscopy in sub-Saharan Africa is often restricted by access to light microscopes. To address this gap, a novel portable inverted monocular microscope, the Newton Nm1, was designed and is now commercially available. Its diagnostic performance was assessed in a blinded-slide trial at ×1000 (oil) of Giemsa-stained thick blood films against a conventional microscope as undertaken by four Ugandan Ministry of Health technicians. With the Newton Nm1, diagnostic performance was: sensitivity 93·5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 78·6–99·2%), specificity 100·0% (95% CI 82·4–100·0%), positive predictive value 100·0% (95% CI 88·1–100·0%) and negative predictive value 90·5% (95% CI 69·6–98·8%). Discordance was due to a systematic error underestimating parasitaemia by ~45%; when counting Plasmodium parasites against 200 white blood cells, blood films with low parasitaemia (i.e. <100 μL−1 of blood) could be overlooked and misclassified. By contrast, specificity was excellent with no false positives encountered. Whilst proven useful, especially in resource-poor environments, it is still unclear how we can ensure the uptake of the Newton Nm1 within sub-Saharan Africa.

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Insect pollination and sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Journal of Pollination Ecology ◽

10.26786/1920-7603(2021)615 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

Author(s):

Kumsa Tolera ◽

Gavin Ballantyne

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Agriculture ◽

Crop Production ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Population Declines ◽

Insect Pollination ◽

Pollination Services ◽

Agricultural Improvement ◽

Global Perspectives ◽

Sub Saharan

We are currently seeing an expansion of pollinator-dependent crops in many parts of the world, but also growing evidence for pollinator population declines and loss of pollinator habitat. Climate change and population growth will place additional demands on crop production, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the wealth of evidence that improved management of insect pollinators can lead to substantial gains in crop yield, agricultural improvement strategies in SSA still emphasize the manipulation of abiotic factors and do not fully exploit the value of pollinators. In this article we review the importance of pollination services in sustainable agriculture, how global perspectives can inform our understanding of the situation in SSA, discuss successful pollination management, highlight where research and development are required, and suggest possible solutions to enhance the contribution of pollination services to sustainable agriculture in the region.

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