Resources endowment, income distribution and needs for techno-logies among peri-urban smallholders in the Gambia

One reason of the modest adoption of improved technologies by smallholder farmers is that the majority of them are resource constrained. Structural constraints at the households level and institutional weaknesses have often prevented most of the farmers from joining the economic development process. This study analyses the production resources in relation with the income and the needs for improved technologies of the peri-urban farm households in The Gambia. The results are compelling. The majority of the production resources are owned by small fraction of the smallholders. As a consequence, their income is higher and mostly derived from agriculture, while the poor-resource households rely on a relatively wide variety of activities to compensate their low income. The poor-resource households have also the greatest need for improved technologies, although many would also need some kind of subsidies to uptake them. There is a clear need for more agricultural research, expertise and policy-making to transcend the traditional global understanding of smallholder farmers, and consider their heterogeneity in terms of production resources

Stratégie collectives de lutte contre la trypanosomose animale. Comment pérenniser les acquis de la lutte antivectorielle ?

En Afrique de l'Ouest comme dans d'autres régions, l'échec de la plupart des projets de développement de première génération a souvent été attribué à l'incapacité des bénéficiaires à poursuivre les actions, une fois ces projets arrivés à terme. Les problèmes de développement, auxquels on a cru avoir trouvé des solutions durables, se posent de nouveau, souvent avec plus d'acuité. C'est le cas notamment des campagnes de lutte contre la trypanosomose animale où la réinfestation rapide des zones assainies s'est toujours révélée désastreuse pour l'élevage bovin en particulier. Parmi les causes des nombreux échecs, le manque d'implication des populations dans la conception et la mise en oeuvre des programmes figure en première place. Avec l'avènement des Programmes d'Ajustement Structurel (PAS), qui prônent le désengagement de l'Etat des secteurs productifs et la décentralisation au profit d'un recentrage de son intervention sur ses fonctions régaliennes, l'implication effective des communautés locales dans tout programme de développement est apparue comme la solution la plus appropriée. Cette vision nouvelle est sousjacente à la seconde génération des projets de développement dont l'objectif principal est d'aboutir à un développement endogène. Cela nécessite une prise en compte des perceptions des populations de leur propre vision du développement. Les programmes de lutte contre les trypanosomoses animales en Afrique de l'Ouest, dont cette fiche analyse les conditions de pérennisation des acquis, figurent parmi cette seconde génération des programmes de développement. (Résumé d'auteur

Using conjoint analysis to estimate farmers' preferences for cattle traits in West Africa

This paper estimates the preferences of farmers for cattle traits in southern Burkina Faso using Conjoint analysis, a survey-based system for measuring preferences for multiple-attribute goods. Here the technique is used in the context of a West African country where literacy is low, where cattle perform multiple functions, where low-input management is the norm, and where cattle are exposed to a number of tropical diseases and other environmental stresses. The results reflect the production practices of the region, suggesting that important traits in developing breed improvement programs should include disease resistance, fitness for traction and reproductive performance. Beef and milk production are less important traits. The study shows the potential usefulness of conjoint analysis for quantifying preferences in less developed countries for livestock and for the wide variety of other multiple-attribute goods. Distinguishing differences in preferences between groups of respondents in connection with specific locations and production systems can be used to promote conservation-through-use of breeds at risk of extinction

The problem of teaching twofold love: Christian education and a culture of peace in the Great Lakes Region

Practical theology has society as its horizon and should not be limited to a clerical paradigm because Christianity is not limited to a church but its horizon is the whole of society. In line with this understanding of practical theology, this study is a contribution to Christian education for a culture of peace in the Great Lakes region (the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi). Millions of people have been slaughtered in this region where Christianity is the main religion. The Church in this region has lost its credibility and is seen as contributing to a culture of violence through its church leaders and parishioners. This study focuses on the research question: Can teaching twofold love contribute to a culture of peace in the Great Lakes region? The thesis has empirically argued that the cause of turmoil in the Great Lakes region is the lack of twofold love, which has disguised itself in all evils known in the region, such as corruption, hegemony, predation, indirect rule, divide and rule, tribalism, fetishism, mass killings, prostitution, over-trust in modernism and breaking God's Ten Commandments, more than anything else. Humankind finds it difficult to love the neighbour like oneself and this lack of neighbourly love causes unrest in this region. The discussion in chapter three has empirically demonstrated through educational psychology that teaching is love of the learner. Therefore, an effective teacher should be able to give loving care to the learner's spiritual, physical and social needs, in a specific context. This is what Jesus did through verbal and behavioural media (Byrskog, 1994: 321). Such a liberationist teaching that should avoid pouring socially irrelevant knowledge on the learner is still an urgent need in the Great Lakes region. Christian education in this region has been learnt in a rote manner without educating Christians to be problem solvers. The fourth chapter makes practical suggestions on how to deal with the dilemmas of teaching Christian education in the region. Thus the study has empirically confirmed the research hypothesis that an effective teaching of twofold love can contribute to a culture of peace in the Great Lakes region.D. Th. (Practical Theology)Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theolog

Prospects for the development of odour baits to control the tsetse flies Glossina tachinoides and G. palpalis s.l.

Field studies were done of the responses of Glossina palpalis palpalis in Côte d'Ivoire, and G. p. gambiensis and G. tachinoides in Burkina Faso, to odours from humans, cattle and pigs. Responses were measured either by baiting (1.) biconical traps or (2.) electrocuting black targets with natural host odours. The catch of G. tachinoides from traps was significantly enhanced (~5×) by odour from cattle but not humans. In contrast, catches from electric targets showed inconsistent results. For G. p. gambiensis both human and cattle odour increased (>2×) the trap catch significantly but not the catch from electric targets. For G. p. palpalis, odours from pigs and humans increased (~5×) the numbers of tsetse attracted to the vicinity of the odour source but had little effect on landing or trap-entry. For G. tachinoides a blend of POCA (P = 3-n-propylphenol; O = 1-octen-3-ol; C = 4-methylphenol; A = acetone) alone or synthetic cattle odour (acetone, 1-octen-3-ol, 4-methylphenol and 3-n-propylphenol with carbon dioxide) consistently caught more tsetse than natural cattle odour. For G. p. gambiensis, POCA consistently increased catches from both traps and targets. For G. p. palpalis, doses of carbon dioxide similar to those produced by a host resulted in similar increases in attraction. Baiting traps with super-normal (~500 mg/h) doses of acetone also consistently produced significant but slight (~1.6×) increases in catches of male flies. The results suggest that odour-baited traps and insecticide-treated targets could assist the AU-Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) in its current efforts to monitor and control Palpalis group tsetse in West Africa. For all three species, only ~50% of the flies attracted to the vicinity of the trap were actually caught by it, suggesting that better traps might be developed by an analysis of the visual responses and identification of any semiochemicals involved in short-range interaction

Preventive Communication On Chemical-Biological-Nuclear And Radiological Risks

Cet article a pour objectif d'analyser l'efficacité des campagnes d'information et de communication préventive sur les risques NRBC ; la communication sur les risques implique de grandes différences entre les experts et les gens « ordinaires ». Les éléments ayant un certain impact sur l'analyse des risques des gens « ordinaires » sont par exemple la volonté ou non de s'y exposer, la répartition inégale des dommages et des bénéfices (la personne ayant de faibles ressources économiques est obligée de vivre dans des zones à haut risque), sans oublier également l'habitude de « vivre avec » le risque, la connaissance, la visibilité et la tangibilité de la source du risque

Restricted Application of Insecticides: A Promising Tsetse Control Technique, but What Do the Farmers Think of It?

Restricted application of insecticides to cattle is a cheap and safe farmer-based method to control tsetse and the diseases they transmit, i.e. human and animal African trypanosomoses. The efficiency of this new control method has been demonstrated earlier but no data is available on its perception and adoption intensity by farmers. We studied these two features in Burkina Faso, where the method has diffused thanks to two development projects. The study allowed identifying three groups of farmers with various adoption intensities, of which one was modern and two traditional. The economic benefit and the farmers' knowledge of the epidemiological system appeared to have a low impact on the early adoption process whereas some modern practices, as well as social factors appeared critical. The quality of technical support provided to the farmers had also a great influence on the adoption rate. The study highlighted individual variations in risk perceptions and benefits, as well as the prominent role of the socio-technical network of cattle farmers. The results of the study are discussed to highlight the factors that should be taken into consideration, to move discoveries from bench to field for an improved control of trypanosomoses vectors