Demand-side challenges to increase sales of new maize hybrids in Kenya.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Rutsaert P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8374426 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Background Antenatal care (ANC) and delivery by skilled providers have been well recognized as effective strategies to prevent maternal and neonatal mortality. ANC and delivery services at health facilities, however, have been underutilized in Kenya. One potential strategy to increase the demand for ANC services is to provide health interventions as incentives for pregnant women. In 2013, an integrated ANC program was implemented in western Kenya to promote ANC visits by addressing both supply- and demand-side factors. Supply-side interventions included nurse training and supplies for obstetric emergencies and neonatal resuscitation. Demand-side interventions included SMS text messages with appointment reminders and educational contents, group education sessions, and vouchers to purchase health products. Methods To explore pregnant mothers’ experiences with the intervention, ANC visits, and delivery, we conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) at pre- and post-intervention. A total of 19 FGDs were held with pregnant mothers, nurses, and community health workers (CHWs) during the two assessment periods. We performed thematic analyses to highlight study participants’ perceptions and experiences. Results FGD data revealed that pregnant women perceived the risks of home-based delivery, recognized the benefits of facility-based delivery, and were motivated by the incentives to seek care despite barriers to care that included poverty, lack of transport, and poor treatment by nurses. Nurses also perceived the value of incentives to attract women to care but described obstacles to providing health care such as overwork, low pay, inadequate supplies and equipment, and insufficient staff. CHWs identified the utility and limitations of text messages for health education. Conclusions Future interventions should ensure that adequate workforce, training, and supplies are in place to respond to increased demand for maternal and child health services stimulated by incentive programs.
| S-EPMC7414717 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo explore the barriers to and options for improving access to quality healthcare for the urban poor in Nairobi, Kenya.Design and participantsThis was a qualitative approach. In-depth interviews (n=12), focus group discussions with community members (n=12) and key informant interviews with health providers and policymakers (n=25) were conducted between August 2019 and September 2020. Four feedback and validation workshops were held in December 2019 and April-June 2021.SettingKorogocho and Viwandani urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya.ResultsThe socioe-conomic status of individuals and their families, such as poverty and lack of health insurance, interact with community-level factors like poor infrastructure, limited availability of health facilities and insecurity; and health system factors such as limited facility opening hours, health providers' attitudes and skills and limited public health resources to limit healthcare access and perpetuate health inequities. Limited involvement in decision-making processes by service providers and other key stakeholders was identified as a major challenge with significant implications on how limited health system resources are managed.ConclusionDespite many targeted interventions to improve the health and well-being of the urban poor, slum residents are still unable to obtain quality healthcare because of persistent and new barriers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a devolved health system, paying attention to health services managers' abilities to assess and respond to population health needs is vital. The limited use of existing accountability mechanisms requires attention to ensure that the mechanisms enhance, rather than limit, access to health services for the urban slum residents. The uniqueness of poor urban settings also requires in-depth and focused attention to social determinants of health within these contexts. To address individual, community and system-level barriers to quality healthcare in this and related settings and expand access to health services for all, multisectoral strategies tailored to each population group are needed.
| S-EPMC9083429 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this work, we sought to understand how breeding has affected photosynthesis and to identify key photosynthetic indices that are important for increasing maize yield in the field. Our 2-year (2017-2018) field experiment used five high-yielding hybrid maize cultivars (generated in the 1970s, 2000s, and 2010s) and was conducted in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. We investigated the effects of planting density on maize grain yield, photosynthetic parameters, respiration, and chlorophyll content, under three planting density regimens: 75,000, 105,000, and 135,000 plants ha-1. Our results showed that increasing planting density to the medium level (105,000 plants ha-1) significantly increased grain yield (Y) up to 20.32% compared to the low level (75,000 plants ha-1). However, further increasing planting density to 135,000 plants ha-1 did not lead to an additional increase in yield, with some cultivars actually exhibiting an opposite trend. Interestingly, no significant changes in photosynthetic rate, dark respiration, stomatal density, and aperture were observed upon increasing planting density. Moreover, our experiments revealed a positive correlation between grain yield and the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) upon the hybrid release year. Compared to other cultivars, the higher grain yield obtained in DH618 resulted from a higher 1000-kernel weight (TKW), which can be explained by a longer photosynthetic duration, a higher chlorophyll content, and a lower ratio of chlorophyll a/b. Moreover, we found that a higher leaf area per plant and the leaf area index (HI) do not necessarily result in an improvement in maize yield. Taken together, we demonstrated that higher photosynthetic capacity, longer photosynthetic duration, suitable LAI, and higher chlorophyll content with lower chlorophyll a/b ratio are important factors for obtaining high-yielding maize cultivars and can be used for the improvement of maize crop yield.
| S-EPMC8556214 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The development and deployment of high-yielding stress tolerant maize hybrids are important components of the efforts to increase maize productivity in eastern Africa. This study was conducted to: i) evaluate selected, stress-tolerant maize hybrids under farmers' conditions; ii) identify farmers' selection criteria in selecting maize hybrids; and iii) have farmers evaluate the new varieties according to those criteria. Two sets of trials, one with 12 early-to-intermediate maturing and the other with 13 intermediate-to-late maturing hybrids, improved for tolerance to multiple stresses common in farmers' fields in eastern Africa (drought, northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot, common rust, maize streak virus), were evaluated on-farm under smallholder farmers' conditions in a total of 42 and 40 environments (site-year-management combinations), respectively, across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda in 2016 and 2017. Farmer-participatory variety evaluation was conducted at 27 sites in Kenya and Rwanda, with a total of 2025 participating farmers. Differential performance of the hybrids was observed under low-yielding (<3 t ha-1) and high-yielding (>3 t ha-1) environments. The new stress-tolerant maize hybrids had a much better grain-yield performance than the best commercial checks under smallholder farmer growing environments but had a comparable grain-yield performance under optimal conditions. These hybrids also showed better grain-yield stability across the testing environments, providing an evidence for the success of the maize-breeding approach. In addition, the new stress- tolerant varieties outperformed the internal genetic checks, indicating genetic gain under farmers' conditions. Farmers gave high importance to grain yield in both farmer-stated preferences (through scores) and farmer-revealed preferences of criteria (revealed by regressing the overall scores on the scores for the individual criteria). The top-yielding hybrids in both maturity groups also received the farmers' highest overall scores. Farmers ranked yield, early maturity, cob size and number of cobs as the most important traits for variety preference. The criteria for the different hybrids did not differ between men and women farmers. Farmers gave priority to many different traits in addition to grain yield, but this may not be applicable across all maize-growing regions. Farmer-stated importance of the different criteria, however, were quite different from farmer- revealed importance. Further, there were significant differences between men and women in the revealed-importance of the criteria. We conclude that incorporating farmers' selection criteria in the stage-gate advancement process of new hybrids by the breeders is useful under the changing maize-growing environments in sub-Saharan Africa, and recommended to increase the turnover of new maize hybrids.
| S-EPMC6961973 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Demand for hydropower is increasing, yet the water footprints (WFs) of reservoirs and hydropower, and their contributions to water scarcity, are poorly understood. Here, we calculate reservoir WFs (freshwater that evaporates from reservoirs) and hydropower WFs (the WF of hydroelectricity) in China based on data from 875 representative reservoirs (209 with power plants). In 2010, the reservoir WF totaled 27.9 × 10(9) m(3)?(Gm(3)), or 22% of China's total water consumption. Ignoring the reservoir WF seriously underestimates human water appropriation. The reservoir WF associated with industrial, domestic and agricultural WFs caused water scarcity in 6 of the 10 major Chinese river basins from 2 to 12 months annually. The hydropower WF was 6.6 Gm(3) yr(-1) or 3.6 m(3) of water to produce a GJ (10(9) J) of electricity. Hydropower is a water intensive energy carrier. As a response to global climate change, the Chinese government has promoted a further increase in hydropower energy by 70% by 2020 compared to 2012. This energy policy imposes pressure on available freshwater resources and increases water scarcity. The water-energy nexus requires strategic and coordinated implementations of hydropower development among geographical regions, as well as trade-off analysis between rising energy demand and water use sustainability.
| S-EPMC4648423 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The goal of achieving herd immunity to the coronavirus requires high vaccination acceptance levels on the part of the population. The objectives of this study were to: 1) Measure individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for a COVID-19 vaccine in Kenya; 2) evaluate the effect of vaccine characteristics (duration of protection and efficacy) and individuals' socioeconomic variables on WTP, and 3) estimate the aggregate demand and economic value of a COVID-19 vaccine. The contingent valuation (CV) method was used as the basis for the analyses. Data for this study were obtained from a survey of 1,050 individuals in Kenya conducted from April 7 to April 15, 2020. The survey included CV questions using a double-bounded dichotomous choice format. Results reveal that most of the individuals in Kenya (at least 96%) were willing to accept a COVID-19 vaccine. Approximately 80% of individuals were willing to pay a positive amount. Conservative estimates of individuals' mean WTP for the vaccine range from USD 49.81 to USD 68.25 (depending on vaccine characteristics). Both vaccine duration of protection and efficacy were found to influence WTP (p < .10). The perceived probability of being hospitalized, age, gender, education, location and region of residence, and household income were also found to be associated with WTP for the vaccine (p < .10). In conclusion, the COVID-19 vaccine is highly valued and accepted by the Kenyan population; however, a high percent of the population is unwilling to pay for it or is only willing to pay a low price.
| S-EPMC8437500 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Interspecific hybridisation between hexaploid and tetraploid wheat species leads to the development of F1 pentaploid hybrids with unique chromosomal constitutions. Pentaploid hybrids derived from bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. durum Desf.) crosses can improve the genetic background of either parent by transferring traits of interest. The genetic variability derived from bread and durum wheat and transferred into pentaploid hybrids has the potential to improve disease resistance, abiotic tolerance, and grain quality, and to enhance agronomic characters. Nonetheless, pentaploid wheat hybrids have not been fully exploited in breeding programs aimed at improving crops. There are several potential barriers for efficient pentaploid wheat production, such as low pollen compatibility, poor seed set, failed seedling establishment, and frequent sterility in F1 hybrids. However, most of the barriers can be overcome by careful selection of the parental genotypes and by employing the higher ploidy level genotype as the maternal parent. In this review, we summarize the current research on pentaploid wheat hybrids and analyze the advantages and pitfalls of current methods used to assess pentaploid-derived lines. Furthermore, we discuss current and potential applications in commercial breeding programs and future directions for research into pentaploid wheat.
| S-EPMC5355473 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In recent years, the environmental problems caused by excessive carbon emissions from energy sources have become increasingly serious, which not only aggravates the climate change caused by the greenhouse effect but also seriously restricts the sustainable development of Chinese economy. An attempt is made in this paper to use energy consumption method and input-output method to study the carbon emission structure of China's energy system and industry in 2015 from two perspectives, namely China's energy supply side and energy demand side, by taking into account the two factors of energy invest in gross capital formation and export. The results show that neglecting these two factors will lead to underestimation of intermediate use carbon emissions and overestimation of final use carbon emissions. On energy supply side, the carbon emission structure of China's energy system is still dominated by high-carbon energy (raw coal, coke, diesel, and fuel oil, etc.), accounting for more than 70% of total energy carbon emissions; on the contrary, the natural gas such as clean energy accounts for only 3.45% of total energy carbon emissions, indicating that the energy consumption structure optimization and emission reduction gap of China's energy supply side are still substantial. On energy demand side, the final use (direct consumption by residents and government) produces less carbon emissions, while the intermediate use (production by enterprises) produces more than 90% of the total energy carbon emissions. Fossil energy, power sector, heavy industry, chemical industry, and transportation belong to industries with larger carbon emissions and lower carbon emission efficiency, while agriculture, construction, light industry, and service belong to industries with fewer carbon emissions and higher carbon emission efficiency. This means that the optimization of industrial structure is conducive to slowing down the growth of energy carbon emissions on the demand side.
| S-EPMC7537888 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Crop improvement for yield and drought tolerance is challenging due to the complex genetic nature of these traits and environmental dependencies. This study reports that transgenic over-expression of Zea mays AR GOS1 (ZAR1) enhanced maize organ growth, grain yield, and drought-stress tolerance. The ZAR1 transgene exhibited environmental interactions, with yield increase under Temperate Dry and yield reduction under Temperate Humid or High Latitude environments. Native ZAR1 allele variation associated with drought-stress tolerance. Two founder alleles identified in the mid-maturity germplasm of North America now predominate in Pioneer's modern breeding programme, and have distinct proteins, promoters and expression patterns. These two major alleles show heterotic group partitioning, with one predominant in Pioneer's female and the other in the male heterotic groups, respectively. These two alleles also associate with favourable crop performance when heterozygous. Allele-specific transgene testing showed that, of the two alleles discussed here, each allele differed in their impact on yield and environmental interactions. Moreover, when transgenically stacked together the allelic pair showed yield and environmental performance advantages over either single allele, resembling heterosis effects. This work demonstrates differences in transgenic efficacy of native alleles and the differences reflect their association with hybrid breeding performance.
| S-EPMC3883295 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Improving access to safe and affordable sanitation facilities is a global health priority that is essential for meeting the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. To promote the use of improved sanitation in rural and low-income settings, plastic latrine slabs provide a simple option for upgrading traditional pit latrines. The International Finance Corporation/World Bank Selling Sanitation program estimated that plastic slabs would have a 34% annual growth, with a market size of US$2.53 million in Kenya by 2017. In this study, we examined the commercial viability of these plastic latrine slabs in rural Kenya by evaluating a financing and distribution model intervention, documenting household slab sales to date, and assessing consumer exposure and perceptions. We also determined household willingness to pay through a real-money auction with 322 households. We found that no households in our study area had purchased the plastic slabs. The primary barriers to slab sales were limited marketing activities and low demand compared with the sales price: households were willing to pay an average of US$5 compared with a market price of US$16. Therefore, current household demand for the plastic latrine slabs in rural Kenya is too low to support commercial distribution. Further efforts are required to align the price of plastic latrine slabs with consumer demand in this setting, such as additional demand creation, product financing, and public sector investment.
| S-EPMC6726948 | biostudies-literature