Africa Innovations Institute

Low productivity of rice in Uganda is attributed to sub-optimal production practices related to soil nutrient, crop and weed management. Application of improved management practices could enhance productivity. Returning 1 year after a joint experimentation in which different components of recommended agronomic practices (RAP) for rice were tested, we assessed change in management practices and grain yield of participating farmers (participated in joint experimentation) and non-participating farmers (did not participate) with plots in the same irrigation scheme. Participating farmers belonging to the lower-yielding farmers under farmers' practice (FP) during joint experimentation improved their management practices, compared with the middle- and top-yielding farmers. Sixty-one, 24 and 7% of lower-, middle- and top-yielding farmers, respectively, weeded earlier after experimentation compared with weeding time under FP during joint experimentation. Seventy-nine percent of lower-yielding farmers used fertiliser after experimentation compared with 18% during experimentation, with a higher N rate increase than middle- and top-yielding farmers. Overall, participating farmers transplanted and weeded earlier, and applied slightly higher N rates compared with non-participating farmers. Top-yielding farmers had significantly (p = 0.03) higher grain yield, followed by middle- and lower-yielding farmers. However, lower-yielding farmers made significantly (p < 0.001) higher yield gain than middle- and top-yielding farmers. A paired t-test showed that average yield gain was 1,358 (1,027–1,689), 473 (252–695) and −91.7 (−397–213) kg ha−1, respectively, for lower-, middle- and top-yielding farmers. Participating farmers had higher grain yield (4,125 kg ha−1) than non-participating farmers (3,893 kg ha−1). Three farm types were identified that differed in application of RAP, however, with small differences in household characteristics. The farm type with higher fertiliser use in nursery and field, line transplanting, timely weeding and higher N rate had the highest grain yield. We conclude that joint experimentation had a larger effect on raising yield of lower-yielding farmers, bringing farmers closer in their management and outputs. Lack of differences among farm households could indicate that wealth is not crucial in innovation adoption in this production system.

Accurate and timely data are essential for identifying populations at risk for undernutrition due to poor-quality diets, for implementing appropriate interventions and for evaluating change. Life-logging wearable cameras (LLWC) have been used to prospectively capture food/beverage consumed by adults in high-income countries. This study aimed to evaluate the concurrent criterion validity, for assessing maternal and child dietary diversity scores (DDS), of a LLWC-based image-assisted recall (IAR) and 24-h recall (24HR). Direct observation was the criterion method. Food/beverage consumption of rural Eastern Ugandan mothers and their 12-23-month-old child (n 211) was assessed, for the same day for each method, and the IAR and 24HR DDS were compared with the weighed food record DDS using the Bland-Altman limits of agreement (LOA) method of analysis and Cohen's κ. The relative bias was low for the 24HR (-0·1801 for mothers; -0·1358 for children) and the IAR (0·1227 for mothers; 0·1104 for children), but the LOA were wide (-1·6615 to 1·3012 and -1·6883 to 1·4167 for mothers and children via 24HR, respectively; -2·1322 to 1·8868 and -1·7130 to 1·4921 for mothers and children via IAR, respectively). Cohen's κ, for DDS via 24HR and IAR, was 0·68 and 0·59, respectively, for mothers, and 0·60 and 0·59, respectively, for children. Both the 24HR and IAR provide an accurate estimate of median dietary diversity, for mothers and their young child, but non-differential measurement error would attenuate associations between DDS and outcomes, thereby under-estimating the true associations between DDS - where estimated via 24HR or IAR - and outcomes measured.