This paper synthesizes current knowledge on the impacts of the Gibe III dam and associated large-scale commercial farming in the Omo-Turkana Basin, based on an expert elicitation coupled with a scoping review and the collective knowledge of an multidisciplinary network of researchers with active data-collection programs in the Basin. We use social-ecological systems and political ecology frameworks to assess the impacts of these interventions on hydrology and ecosystem services in the Basin, and cascading effects on livelihoods, patterns of migration, and conflict dynamics for the people of the region. A landscape-scale transformation is occurring in which commodities, rather than staple foods for local consumption, are becoming the main output of the region. Mitigation measures initiated by the Ethiopian government—notably resettlement schemes—are not adequately buffering affected communities from food insecurity following disruption to indigenous livelihood systems. Therefore, while benefits are accruing to labor migrants, the costs of development are currently borne primarily by the agro–pastoralist indigenous people of the region. We consider measures that might maximize benefits from the changes underway and mitigate their negative outcomes, such as controlled floods, irrigating fodder crops, food aid, and benefit sharing. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1139-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
The doum palms are important noncultivated fruit-plants in the arid and semiarid districts of Turkana, Samburu and Marsabit of Kenya. The plant has many domestic and commercial uses. However, despite the central place it occupies in the diets of all pastoral age groups living along the banks of the major rivers, its fatty acid profile is lacking in the literature. This study was conducted in order to document its lipid profile. Lipid extracts of the nut of the Turkana doum palm, Hyphaene coriacea, were obtained and the major fatty acids in the mesocarp and kernel oil extracts were determined. It was shown that the nut has an oil content of 0.4 and 10.3% in the mesocarp and kernel, respectively. The kernel and mesocarp lipid extracts contained 55 and 66% long-chain saturated fatty acids, C 12-C 16 , and 76 and 66% total saturated fatty acids, respectively. The predominant fatty acids in declining order are lauric, oleic, myristic, palmitic and linoleic acid in the mesocarp, and lauric, oleic, capric, myristic, palmitic, linoleic and caprylic in the kernel. Both kernel and mesocarp oil extracts contained traces of stearic acid and no linolenic acid. Its hexane extract is therefore a typical lauric oil. The kernel oil extract had total monounsaturated fatty acids/total saturated fatty acids, total polyunsaturated fatty acids/total saturated fatty acids and total unsaturated fatty acids/total saturated fatty acids ratios of 0.29, 0.03 and 0.31, respectively. Due to the higher unsaturation, the oil extracts of the Turkana doum palm nut may be less stable with respect to oxidative deterioration than coconut and palm kernel oils. The knowledge of the nutrient composition of indigenous food plants such as the Turkana doum palm is important for the purpose of educating the public on the nutritional value of indigenous food plants available in their localities and for the purposes of conservation. The fatty acid profile of the lipid extracts of the nut of the plant showed that "eengol" is more unsaturated than coconut and palm kernel oils due to its higher oleic acid content. In this respect, it may be healthier to consume it in comparison to coconut and palm kernel oils.
Achieving food and nutrition security remains a tall order for developing countries. The FAO, IFPRI, WFP, UNICEF and other international bodies continue to provide active support in order to achieve global food and nutrition security. However, low technological capability, inefficient production, insignificant economic growth, increasing populations and lately climate variability, affect food production, leading to either stagnation or modest gains in food and nutrition security in different regions of the World. For African countries, food and nutrition security continues to improve, albeit at a slow pace, although the recent breakout of COVID-19 is bound to lead to a decline in food production, in the short and mid-term. In the East African Community, political stability, ambitious economic planning, the quest for higher agricultural productivity, improving educational achievement, improving sanitation and health, are contributing to the improving food and nutrition security. To hasten the process, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania embraced Vision 2030, Vision 2040 and Vision 2025, respectively. These grand, socio-economic plans bore Vision 2050 in the East African Community and Vision 2063 for the African Union. This chapter examines food and nutrition security in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and provides country-specific recommendations for achieving it. These include investing in agriculture, decelerating population growth, using adaptive research to solve farmer-problems, strengthening farmer-organizations and the formation of cooperatives.
Although obesity is a global epidemic that affects every socio-economic class, little is available in the literature on the status of the syndrome in Africa. This literature review was therefore written in order to highlight the causes, effects and potential mitigation measures of the syndrome with particular interest on the status of the condition in Africa. Obesity results from an incorrect energy balance leading to an increased store of energy, mainly as fat. The major factors that contribute to obesity include over-nutrition, physical inactivity, change of dietary habits, modernization, consumption of high fat, high carbohydrate foods, urbanization and in a minority of patients a physical condition or metabolic disturbance. Body mass index (BMI) is currently being used by competent authorities as an index of obesity. BMI differentiates classes of obesity, with class I, II and III being identified with BMI of ≥30 but <35, ≥35 but <40, and ≥40, respectively. A BMI of 18.5-25 is regarded as normal. However, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate obesity due to excess fat deposition and that due to muscle atrophy. Also, current procedures for estimating body fat percentage are not as accurate as they should and often give different results. Despite women tending to be more obese than men, they are less prone to hypertension, heart disease and type 2 diabetes than men before they reach menopause due to their fat deposition being predominantly sub-cutaneous rather than abdominal. In 2010, the WHO estimated that about 1.4 billion adults were overweight and obese, but 300-400 million were obese. The defining metabolic changes in obesity are decreased glucose tolerance, decreased sensitivity to insulin, hyperinsulinemia and reduced life expectancy. Obesity can be treated by restricting food intake and engaging in regular physical exercises. Other measures include the use of anorectic drugs and various forms of jejunoileostomy. Obesity is a controllable behavioural disorder, with regular exercise and sensible eating being the best ways to regulate body fat percentage and maintain a healthy body weight. As it is difficult to treat obesity, efforts should be directed towards prevention in order to keep it in check.
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