A study was conducted to keep scientific record of the challenges and opportunities of the insertion of a mobile app for cocoa producers in the Colombia region as a prospective tool or strategy for technological transfer and appropriation into that sector. A survey with structured and semi-structured questions that pertained to cocoa producer men and women was conducted. The questions were related to the general conditions of their labour activities and were discriminant in the following categories: cocoa-grower ...

Food waste (FW) is a very serious issue not only in ethical and social terms, but also given its economic and environmental impacts (cf. resource wastage and depletion). Recent data show that more than half of food wastage in the European Union is generated in households. FW is unfortunately not well addressed in Albania. For this reason, an exploratory online survey was carried out in the period August–November 2016 with 185 Albanians to analyse the causes, extent and implications of household food wastage in Albania. ...

In some important multiplayer situations, such as efforts to supply a global public good, players can choose the game they want to play. In this paper we conduct an experimental test of the decision by a group with fixed membership, playing over a finite number of periods, to choose between a “tipping” game, in which every player wants to contribute to the public good provided enough other players contribute, and a prisoners’ dilemma, the classic cooperation game. In the prisoners’ dilemma, the first best outcome is ...

Inadequate and poorly distributed rainfall and declining soil fertility have led to low crop productivity in most smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, there has been a renewed quest for sustainable and resource-use efficient agricultural production practices. Zai pit technology is a practice that has the potential to alleviate water stress and enhance soil fertility. We assessed the factors that influence farmers' adoption and utilisation of Zai pits in Tharaka-Nithi County in upper Eastern Kenya. ...

Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica) is an indigenous tuber crop of the Ethiopian Highlands. It is popular in the western Oromia Region of the country. Apart from food, the crop is also used in traditional medicine. Anchote tubers possess two variations in its tissue colour, red and white. In this study, a small market survey and a nutritional comparison of red and white anchote were conducted. White tissue anchote seems to be more popular, due to its soft texture and ease of cooking. However, the red variant was considered ...

Cyclopentyl substituted silanetriol can be prepared and isolated. Its condensation yields the corresponding disiloxanetetrol as a primary condensation product. Further condensation leads to the hexameric polyhedral silsesquioxane cage T6. The latter has been mentioned in the literature before however, lacking structural data. All compounds have been characterized with multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and, in addition, the molecular structures have been determined in the case of the disiloxanetetrol and the hexasilsesquioxane ...

This study explores how consumption of the traditional salad Lalapan, central to the eating culture of the Sundanese, is associated with skin quality perception, daily β-carotene intake and blood β-carotene concentrations. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Gunung Malang Village and Leuweung Kolot Village, Bogor District, West Java. 60 healthy Sundanese women, aged 30-49 years, were selected using simple random sampling. Their body weight and height were measured, and they were interviewed about the eating ...

The effect of ultrasonic treatment at 40 kHz for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes on the growth of five different strains of probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5, Lactobacillus casei LC, Lactobacillus reuteri LR-MM53, Bifidobacterium bifidum Bb-12 and Bifidobacterium loungm BB-536) in fermented milk was investigated. The study findings indicate that ultrasound treatment (10 minutes) increased the viable cells and total acidity for LA-5, LC and LR-MM53 samples but decreased viable cells and total acidity in ...

Alternaria leaf blight (ALB) has been shown in recent years to be one of the major potential disease threats of sunflower capable of causing yield losses in all major production areas. The aim of this study was to determine the causal agent, prevalence and geographical distribution of ALB in the major sunflower production areas of South Africa. Surveys were conducted during 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 growing seasons at commercial sunflower production fields and at commercial cultivar trials. In the three growing ...

Agricultural production in Kenya is dominated by smallholder enterprises which provide up to 60% of the country's workforce. The agrarian transition to enhance smallholder participation in neoliberal capitalistic markets demands compliance to sanitary and phytosanitary standards and with codes for worker's welfare and thus the concept of decent work. Evaluation of decent work deficits in the informal economy however remains a challenge associated with sector uniqueness and differences in socio- cultural attributes ...