Rural Tourism and Inclusive Development in Port St. Johns - South Africa

The purpose of this study was to explore ways of achieving an inclusive approach to tourism development in rural communities. Although tourism has generally been recommended as a means of orchestrating development in rural communities, achieving this laudable goal has often been illusive due to the fragmented approach adopted by tourism stakeholders. An exploratory quantitative research approach was adopted by using a structured survey instrument to generate 307 valid responses from community members in Port St. John in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) of South Africa. Results obtained reveal similarities and some differences based on demographic characteristics with regards to the benefits of rural tourism to the community. Importantly, the study illuminates the fragmented way in which residents perceive tourism benefits, both from a gender perspective and personal benefit versus community dichotomy. The paper discusses policy as well as practical local economic development implications.

The prevalence and burden of primary headache disorders among adults in rural villages of Bangalore District, South India: A community-based study

The prevalence of primary headache disorders (PHDs) and their burden has been seldom studied in the rural community setting of a developing country. To study the prevalence of primary headache disorders and their burden in the rural community A door to door survey was done in seven rural villages under Mugalur sub centre area, Sarjapura Primary Health Centre and Anekal taluk, Bangalore district, Karnataka State, south India, for finding the prevalence and burden of PHDs. During the study period of three months, a total of 1255 people were screened in the seven villages. 13.1% (165/1255) of people suffered from PHDs. The population prevalence of migraine without aura was 8.84% (111/1255), tension type headache was 2.86% (36/1255) and chronic migraine was 1.43%(18/1255). The mean number of headache days for all the PHDs was 4.26 (±1.64) days. 66.1% of persons with headache reported minimal or infrequent impact of headache. Among various demographic variables, headache was significantly associated with the female gender and marital status. PHDs are prevalent in the rural communities of developing countries and need urgent attention of primary care physicians, community health departments, governmental agencies and policy makers.

Farmers’ Strategies to Climate Change and Urbanization: Potential of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in Rural Chengdu, Southwest China

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is emerging as a cost-effective approach for helping people adapt to climate and non-climate changes. Nowadays, climate change and urbanization have affected agricultural systems, but it is not clear how rural communities have responded or adapted to those changes. Here, we chose two typical villages in the Chengdu Plain, southwest China, through sociological surveys on 90 local farmers with a semi-structured questionnaire, participatory observation, geospatial analysis of land use and land cover, and a literature review, to explore the local people’s perception of changes or disturbances and their adaptation strategies from the perspective of EbA. The results showed that climate change and urbanization had impacted agricultural systems dramatically in the last 40 years. In two case-study sites, climate change and urbanization were perceived by most local farmers as the main drivers impacting on agricultural production, but various resource-use models containing abundant traditional knowledge or practices as well as modern tools, such as information communication technology (ICT), were applied to adapt to these changes. Moreover, culture service through the adaptive decoration of rural landscapes is becoming a new perspective for implementing an EbA strategy. Finally, our findings highlighted the potential value of an EbA strategy for sustaining urban-rural integrated development and enhancing the resilience of agricultural systems.

The Role of Agricultural Institutions in Providing Support Towards Sustainable Rural Development in South Pacific Island Countries

This paper examines the agricultural training in higher education institutions and tertiary colleges, their pre-eminent role and how best they can contribute to alleviate poverty in rural communities in Fiji and other South Pacific island countries. These institutions provide support through training farmers (vocational and adult education) and/or extension officers and providing researchers. Unfortunately, agricultural training institutions are not adapting to the rapid changing times early enough and have more or less maintained the traditional way of training. There is a need for agricultural institutions to amend their programs to facilitate the new emerging areas, together with new learning and teaching frameworks, establish new partnerships with the private sector in addition to expanding their representation in governance in addition to holding continuous dialogue with policymakers. Further, these institutions can potentially showcase local customs and knowledge, mirroring the regional culture, and ethical customs of the Pacific island community, as well as global movements and development forces. In reinforcing their title role as contributors to a culture of education and rural agricultural development, we suggest that agricultural institutions engage more directly and more effectively in partnerships and dialogue with other local agricultural stakeholders and their surrounding rural communities in Fiji and other Pacific island countries.

The influence of fasting on energy and nutrient intake and their corresponding food sources among 6-23 months old children in rural communities with high burden of stunting from Northern Ethiopia

Background Limited studies in Ethiopia showed that infants and young children are at high risk of inadequate intake of energy and nutrients. However, inclusive assessment of both nutrient intakes and their food sources are lacking. We aimed at assessing energy and nutrient intakes and their food sources during religious fasting and non-fasting periods among 6–23 months old children in Northern Ethiopia. Methods Data for this longitudinal study were collected following repeated multiple-pass 24-h dietary recall technique through face-to-face interviews with primary caregivers. Using a two-stage systematic random sampling method, a total of 570 and 551 children participated respectively in the lent fasting and non-fasting periods. Energy and nutrient intakes were estimated and compared with WHO daily requirements. All foods that a child consumed on the day preceding the date of data collection were recorded and processed with database software. Chi-square and t- tests were used to analyze the data. Non-normally distributed data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results The overall prevalence of child stunting was 41.4%. Almost all of children (99.6%) consumed grains, roots, and tubers. The inadequacy prevalence of energy, protein and eight selected micronutrients (calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C) intake were 96.2, 44.9, and 95.5%, respectively. Calcium and zinc were the highest (100%) deficits observed across all age groups. Although consumption of animal source foods (ASFs) was very low (dairy 10.1%, meat 2.3% and eggs 23.6%), there was significantly higher consumption of meat and eggs during the non-fasting compared to fasting period (p < 0.001). Conclusions Inadequate intake of energy and nutrients was common among 6–23 months old children. Cereals were found to be the main sources of many of the nutrients. The consumption of ASFs among 6–23-month-old children was low which was also affected by the religious fasting period. Hence, strengthening social and behavior change communication, supporting rural households to raise poultry and small ruminants is recommended.