Global research attention appears to be focused predominantly on self‐reported than observed food safety practices. The purpose of this study was to determine the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and self‐reported and observed practices of food handlers in 22 urban restaurants in Zimbabwe. A piloted questionnaire was used to gather qualitative data regarding socio‐demographic variables, food safety knowledge (FSK), attitudes, and self‐reported food handling practices (SRFHPs). A predesigned checklist was used to observe the food handling practices. FSK scores were significantly higher in food handlers who received basic food safety training compared to those who did not (p < .05). No differences in food safety knowledge and attitudes were noted based on the socio‐demographic characteristics of the food handlers (p > .05). A significant positive correlation was observed between FSK and attitudes (rs = 0.371, p < .05), FSK and SRFHPs (rs = 0.242, p < 0.05), FSK and observed food handling practices (OFHPs) (rs = 0.254, p < .05), attitudes and SRFPs (rs = 0.229, p < .05), and attitudes and OFHPs (rs = 0.263, p < .05). About half of the food handlers washed their hands in sinks meant for washing cutlery, 57% did not use approved hand drying methods, and 19.8% did not adequately thaw frozen foods. Food was commonly defrosted either under room temperature or using hot water (>45°C). Results suggest a need for mandatory basic and advanced training to improve the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

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We investigated seasonal water quality changes on different land uses in a small agricultural watershed dominated with rice and tea crops. Observed NO 3 -N in tea plantations and tea drainage channels was sufficiently high enough to cause downstream water pollution throughout the year. On contrary, significant NO 3 -N reductions were observed in abandoned and active paddy fields, and were highest in active paddy fields during rice growing seasons. Accordingly, a question is posed whether deliberately diverting NO 3 -N contaminated drainage water from tea plantations to paddy fields would be effective a strategy for reducing downstream water pollution. NO 3 -N ratios reduced in paddy fields are however neither distinct nor known in advance, and this uncertainty could consequently lead to further environmental risks like NO 3 -N leaching and production of greenhouse N 2 O gas. We assume that NO 3 -N reduction rates of paddy fields and drainage canals are constrained in an ellipsoidal set of uncertainty. A portfolio optimisation problem is formulated to determine optimal rates of diversion from tea drainage channel into paddy fields. The problem is numerically solved in robust optimisation approach by maximising minimum NO 3 -N reduced under uncertainty. An application demonstrated that robust approach allocates different optimal rates of diversion to hedge the risk of possible malfunctioning of NO 3 -N reduction processes. Overall worst-case NO 3 -N reduction is highest in rice growing season, due to increased drainage water allocations to active paddy fields. The robust optimisation approach has potential to support decision-making processes for reducing NO 3 -N pollution and water demand pressure on water resources, and cost of rice production thereof.

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Abstract:In Japanese hilly agricultural watersheds, green tea is a profitable crop, whereas paddy rice cannot endure without subsidies. Environmentally, green tea plantations are the highest nitrate pollutant emitters to water bodies, whereas paddy fields are the most significant nitrogen sinks. This study investigates the effectiveness of diverting nitrate-contaminated drainage water from upland tea fields to the lowland paddy fields, in terms of reduction of downstream pollution and rice production cost, using the robust optimal model. The model optimally maximises diversions to reduce nitrate pollution to the adjacent rivers, and is environment risk averse to possible malfunctioning denitrification processes in the respective paddy fields. The application shows increased diversions to paddy fields during the rice growing season, thereby facilitating rice plants to have optimal access to substantial amounts of nitrogen nutrients and water. Thus, the robust optimal model has the potential to support sustainable joint production of the two crops.Keywords: robust optimisation; sustainable production; green tea; paddy rice; agricultural drainage water; nitrogen pollutants.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mabaya, G., Unami, K., Takeuchi, J., Fujihara, M. and Yoshioka, H. (2017) 'Robust optimal model for sustainable joint production of green tea and paddy rice in Japanese agricultural watersheds ', Int. J. Innovation and Sustainable Development, Vol. 11, No. 1, 70 G. Mabaya et al.Biographical notes: Goden Mabaya, MSc (Water Science and Engineering) 2012 UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands, is a PhD student in Water Resources Engineering at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan. He has an extensive technical experience in planning, designing, construction and water management of multiuser irrigation and drainage systems in Africa. His research interests are robust optimisation of integrated agricultural watershed management with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, environmental water quality management, and post-modernisation of irrigation and drainage systems.Koichi Unami, PhD (Agriculture) 1998, Kyoto University, is an Associate Professor at Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan. His research topics include theories and practices of water resources and environment management in rural areas, with specific emphasis on robustness in decision-making under uncertainty. For example, he determines operation rules for irrigation dams with irregular occurrence of recharge events in the framework of stochastic control. He is also an expert in field studies with different agro-ecological climates in Asia and Africa, such as Lake Biwa Basin of Japan and Volta Basin of West Africa.Junichiro Takeuchi, PhD (Agriculture) 2010, Kyoto University, is an Assistant Professor of Water Resources Engineering at Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan. His main research interests include fluid flow and solute/energy transport through porous media and environmentally so...