Summary. -This paper examines strategies used by rural households in Central Malawi to cope with a decreasing fuelwood availability. With increasing distance to woodlands, households initially collected further away, spending more time on collection. But when distance to woodlands increased, households returned to nearby places using less time for collection and switching to lower quality wood. Results indicate that distance to collection place and collection time are not reliable indicators of fuelwood shortages as so often postulated in the literature. Households within the same village differed in collection strategies particularly as regards collection distance and collection frequency. Households that tended to collect further away and more frequently were large in size with more female adults. These households also collected more wood, even per capita, compared to smaller households, suggesting that smaller households economized on fuelwood use. This paper supports the idea that level of fuelwood used is not only determined by fuelwood availability, but the more by labor availability. 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
SUMMARY Three groups of Ugandan children (20 in each group) and one comparison group of 20 children were examined between 11 and 17 years of age. The first three groups had been admitted to hospital for treatment of protein energy malnutrition between the ages of eight to 15, 16 to 21 and 22 to 27 months, respectively. The comparison group had not been clinically malnourished throughout the whole period up to 27 months of age. All the children came from one tribe and were individually matched for sex, age, education and home environment. It was found that the three malnourished groups fell significantly below the comparison group in anthropometric measurements and in tests of intellectual and motor abilities. No evidence was found for a relationship between the deficit and age at admission. Further analysis among the 60 malnourished children revealed that anthropometry and intellectual and motor abilities are the more affected the greater the degree of ‘chronic undernutrition’ at admission, but no correlation was found with the severity of the ‘acute malnutrition’. The results show a general impairment of intellectual abilities, with reasoning and spatial abilities most affected, memory and rote learning intermediately and language ability least, if at all, affected. These findings are discussed in the context of a comprehensive and critical appraisal of the existing literature. RÉSUMÉ Malnutrition énergétique et protéinique de la première enfance, ses conséquences intellectuelles et sur les aptitudes motrices chez l'enfant plus âgé et l'adolescent Trois groupes d'enfants ougandais—chacun de 20—et un groupe contrôle de 20 enfants ont été examinés entre les âges de 11 et 17 ans. Les trois groupes d'étude avaient été antérieurement admis pour traitement de malnutrition énergétique et protéinique respectivement entre les âges de huit à 15 mois, 16 à 21 mois et 22 à 27 mois. Le groupe contrôle n'avait pas présenté de période de malnutrition cliniquement décelable durant toute la période des 27 premiers mois. Tous les enfants venaient d'une même tribu et étaient individuellement appariés en fonction du sexe, de l'âge, de l'éducation et de l'environnement familial. Les trois groupes malnutris se situaient significativement au‐dessous du groupe contrôle en données anthropométriques, aptitudes intellectuelles et motrices. Il n'a pas été observé de relation entre le déficit et l'âge à l'admission. Une analyse plus poussée parmi les 60 enfants malnutris montre que les données anthropométriques, les aptitudes intellectuelles et motrices sont d'autant plus affectées que le degré de ‘sous‐nutrition chronique’était le plus marquéà l'admission mais aucune corrélation n'a été notée avec la gravité de ‘la malnutrition aigüe’. Les résultats montrent une altération générale des aptitudes intellectuelles, la raisonnement et l'aptitude spatiale étant le plus touché, la mémoire et les apprentissages de routine à un degré moyen, l'aptitude de langage très légèrement ou pas du tout. Ces données sont discutées dans une revue globale et c...
This study concerns the introduction of intensive dairy fanning among rural smallholders in Kilifi District, Kenya. Household surveys were conducted among dairy farmers, dairy customers and a comparison sample from rural locations. Dairy farmers were better off than the rural sample as regards household income, food production, food consumption and nutritional status of young children. These différences resulted from the dairy activities but also from greater involvement in erop cultivation and off-farm employment.Local milk purchases by dairy customers were mostly by wealthier households with wage employment. They had higher incomes and higher food consumption than the rural sample, and the children in these households had better nutritional status. Further analysis confirms a positive relation between milk consumption and nutritional status of children, independent of household income, energy intake and level of éducation. Other notable findings were the high incomes from off-farm employment of dairy farmers; regulär dairy customers are chiefly households with wage employment; milk consumption among the rural population was very low.The results cast doubt on the importance of intensive dairy production as a means of livelihood for resource-poor households and the importance of milk as a means to improve nutritional status of children in low-income households.
This study on the nutritional aspects of agricultural and rural development, examines the case of irrigated rice cultivation in Western Kenya. Large-scale irrigation schemes were established in the région rwo decades ago; in the past few years, paddy production by independent smallholders has been expanding rapidly. Nutrition surveys were conducted among four groups of farmers differing in degree of participation in and dependence on irrigated rice production. These include: non-rice growers, resident tenants at large-scale irrigation schemes, non-resident tenants at the large schemes who also farm sizeable plots of land elsewhere, and individual rice growers who have a similar combination of resources as the third group but who usually cultivate onJy small rice plots.The observed différences in nutrition between the four groups appeared to be primarily related to diversity in available resources. The group with the most narrow resource base namely the resident tenants had the lowest food production for home consumption and the lowest average energy intake per consumption unit. This group also had the lowest food intake levels among young children and showed a higher incidence of stunting compared to children belonging to the other study groups. The nutritional différences among the remaining groups were much smaller but the nutritional status of the children of the non-resident tenants, the group with the widest resource base, proved the most favourable. The two remaining groups took an intermediate position in respect of diversity of resources as well as nutritional conditions.
Abstract-This paper examines the arrival of a new group of fishermen on the Kenyan coast and what this has meant for the state of fishery resources. It reviews four subject areas: access and the number of fishermen; the fishermen's identity; the choice of fishing gear; and the fishing grounds selected. Data were collected from a small number of fishing households in the villages of Uyombo and Takaungu in Kilifi District, using mainly qualitative research methods. Local households on the Kenyan coast face increasing pressure on land as well as on marine resources. The declining economic situation and greater pressure on land have made people turn to fishing as an income-generating activity. This group of fishermen is referred to as the 'new' generation of fishermen as they have been involved in fishing for only one or two generations (including the current one) in contrast to the 'old' generation from families who have been fishing or in fishingrelated activities for much longer. The old generation of fishermen and their households have also diversified their incomes, with many fishing households turning to farming, for example, with women and grown-up children involved in various activities. The new generation of fishermen, mainly of the Mijikenda population group, has often been blamed for the loss of traditional access regulations and for using harmful fishing gear. This paper discusses the new generation of fishermen and their identity as they perceive it and relates this to employment generation as a policy measure for marine conservation.
The present study analysed the relationship between household fuel use on one hand and food preparation and consumption on the other. Data were collected in the rainy season, a period of relatively low food availability, and in the post-harvest season, a period of sufficient food availability. In both seasons, a high fuel use was associated with a high energy intake. In the rainy season, this association was determined chiefly by food availability whereas in the post-harvest season fuelwood availability was a determinant of food intake as the correlations became stronger with decreasing fuelwood availability. In both seasons, households with a high fuel use showed a high energy intake from cooked foods made of cereals. Only in the post-harvest season was a high fuel use also related to a high energy intake from other food groups, especially beans. In the rainy season, vegetable intake was increased with an increase in fuel use, but this did not affect energy intake due to the low calorie content of vegetables. The reduction of intake from food groups other than cereals forms a point of special concern in view of the already overwhelming dependence on cereals. A reduced use of fuel may lower the already marginal quality of the diet.
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