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Climate change is one of the major challenges of agricultural production in many developing countries. It complements some other development challenges like civil unrests, environmental degradation and HIV&AIDS as one of the major obstacles to Africa's socioeconomic development. African policy makers have now realized the enormity of economic consequences of climate change, and are coming up with mechanisms for reducing vulnerability through adaptive mechanisms. These would reduce the problem of food insecurity since agriculture is the dominant sector in many African countries. Similarly, these efforts are justifiable given that high proportion of the labor force is found in agriculture and other related activities. This paper analysed the impact of sustainable land use on monthly food shortages among farmers in selected African countries. Data used for this study were collected by the CGIAR's Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) as baseline survey between late 2010 to early 2011. Five sites were randomly selected from East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), while in West Africa, five sites were each selected from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Senegal. A total of 1398 farm households were sampled from the two sub-regions using structured questionnaire. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and Negative Binomial (NB) regression model. The results showed that majority of the farmers from Senegal had no formal education, while average numbers of months when farm households were unable to meet households' food needs were highest in Ethiopia (6.55), Tanzania (5.36) and Ghana (4.44). The results from Negative binomial regression showed that monthly food shortages significantly increased (p<0.05) with exposure to climatic shocks, introduction of new crops, late planting, use of mulching and stopping irrigation. It however reduced significantly (p<0.05) with food cropland owned, vegetable cultivation, fish production, remittance income, access to formal and informal loans, income from renting land, stop planting a variety, improved irrigation and use of integrated crop management. It was concluded that the farmers were adjusting their farming systems in response to climate change and efforts at promoting sustainable farming system will enhance their adaptive capacity and food security given the current climatic changes.

Poverty analytical approaches have recently considered households' deprivation in several welfare attributes in what has been tagged multidimensional poverty. This approach has been well embraced due to acceptability of human development indices as a parameter for comparing welfare across different segments of the population. In this study, non-monetary indicators of welfare were aggregated into composite welfare indicator for pro-poor growth assessment. The 1999, 2003 and 2008 Demographic and Health Survey data were analyzed using the poverty equivalent growth rate (PEGR) and growth incidence curves (GICs). Results show that although sometimes pro-poor, non-income growth rates in many of the zones and states were negative between 1999 and 2003. In the 2003–2008 period, some more positive values were obtained. Specifically, between 1999 and 2003, there was pro-poor growth in non-income poverty in the north-western zone with urban areas benefiting more than rural areas. In the North East zone, there was pro-poor growth between 1999 and 2003, while none was pro-poor between 2003 and 2008. In the North Central zone, all the sectoral results for between 1999 and 2003 had negative growth rates. In South West zone, the growth rates for all the analyses are with negative growth rates between 1999 and 2003. In the South South zone, all the sectoral results had negative growth rates and pro-poor. In South East zone, between 1999 and 2003, all the sectoral results are with positive growth rates and pro-poor. In the combined households (Nigeria) analysis, that all the results had negative growth rates. There is therefore the need for ensuring proper monitoring of non-income poverty across different zones and states in order to ensure adequacy of different mechanisms for tackling it.

Poverty is a persistent problem in South Africa, especially among the black in the rural areas. The main objective of the study was to assess the welfare impacts of social grants among rural households in Dopeni village. The study used primary data that were collected using structured questionnaires. A representative sample of 164 rural households in Dopeni village, Limpopo Province was interviewed. Data were analyzed with FGT Poverty Index and Probit regression. The results show that using consumption expenditures, poverty line was R322. Poor households were found to be about 47%. Social grants were fairly distributed across age and gender groups. About 48.17% had salary as their source of income. Probit regression results indicated that social grants have a statistically significant positive effect on household welfare. It was recommended that information should be made available to rural people about opportunities geared to help them improve their welfare. The education curriculum should be formulated in a way that is practically applicable. Both the government and the private sector should come up with strategies to create much needed jobs.

COVID-19 remains a pressing development concern in Malawi. The third wave of viral infection upsurge raised significant concerns on people's compliance with preventive methods already introduced by the government, among which vaccination is notable. This study analysed the factors influencing COVID-19 vaccination compliance in Malawi. The data were the ninth round of the telephone-based survey that was conducted by Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO) in 2021. The data were analysed with Instrumental Variable Probit model. The results showed that awareness of COVID-19 vaccines arrival was very high (98.19%). Additionally, 11.59% and 60.71% were already vaccinated and planning to be vaccinated, respectively. The Probit regression results showed that age of household heads, need of medical services, being worried of contracting COVID-19 and wearing of masks increased the probability of vaccination compliance, while stress indicators, being employed and not worried at all of contracting COVID-19 reduced it. It was concluded that drastic behaviour change would be needed to address corona virus pandemic in Malawi. There is the need to ensure equity across different age groups in access to vaccines. Further, interventions to ensure proper assessment of an individual's COVID-19 risk and address psychological and emotional stress that are associated with ongoing pandemic would enhance vaccination compliance.

Climate change is a problem which many farmers had observed over the past few years. In this study, the authors analyzed perception on climate change and the factors influencing access to climate change information. The data were collected from randomly selected farmers and analyses were carried out with descriptive and probit regression. The results showed that 97.92 percent of the farmers already noticed climate change with 79.17 percent experienced floo-ding, 61.46 percent experienced some losses on their farms as a result of flooding. Also, 87.5 percent indicated that seasonal temperature had increased over time, while 83.3 percent claimed that seasonal precipitation had decreased and 91.7 percent hinted that seasonal timing of rain was early. The factors that influenced access to climate information were livestock/crop farming, use of hired labor, awareness of climate change, water scarcity, change in level of inputs, lack of climate and adaptation not cost effective (p < 0.10). It was recommended that efforts to enhance farm households' adaptation to climate should be strengthened with commitments to integrate adaptation mechanisms into the extension service delivery systems.

Climate change is a problem which many farmers had observed over the past few years. In this study, the authors analyzed perception on climate change and the factors influencing access to climate change information. The data were collected from randomly selected farmers and analyses were carried out with descriptive and probit regression. The results showed that 97.92 percent of the farmers already noticed climate change with 79.17 percent experienced floo-ding, 61.46 percent experienced some losses on their farms as a result of flooding. Also, 87.5 percent indicated that seasonal temperature had increased over time, while 83.3 percent claimed that seasonal precipitation had decreased and 91.7 percent hinted that seasonal timing of rain was early. The factors that influenced access to climate information were livestock/crop farming, use of hired labor, awareness of climate change, water scarcity, change in level of inputs, lack of climate and adaptation not cost effective (p < 0.10). It was recommended that efforts to enhance farm households' adaptation to climate should be strengthened with commitments to integrate adaptation mechanisms into the extension service delivery systems.

This article analyses farmers' perceptions on the socioeconomic effects of HIV/AIDS and factors associated with their involvement in risky behaviour in southern part of Nigeria. The data were collected in 2004 from 515 farmers in five randomly selected states in southern Nigeria. The results show that most of the affected farmers spend reduced hours in daily work, as well as having a reduced income and reduced participation in community development due to HIV/AIDS. Logistic regression reveals that age and education significantly reduce the probability of being involved in behaviour conducive to HIV/AIDS infection, which is increased by not believing in the existence of HIV/AIDS, ignorance about HIV/AIDS methods of prevention, lack of warning about HIV/AIDS, reports of HIV/AIDS in the village, the distance to the public health centre and the lack of a health centre. These findings, while unsurprising, emphasise the importance of HIV/AIDS as a socioeconomic issue.

This article analyses farmers' perceptions on the socioeconomic effects of HIV/AIDS and factors associated with their involvement in risky behaviour in southern part of Nigeria. The data were collected in 2004 from 515 farmers in five randomly selected states in southern Nigeria. The results show that most of the affected farmers spend reduced hours in daily work, as well as having a reduced income and reduced participation in community development due to HIV/AIDS. Logistic regression reveals that age and education significantly reduce the probability of being involved in behaviour conducive to HIV/AIDS infection, which is increased by not believing in the existence of HIV/AIDS, ignorance about HIV/AIDS methods of prevention, lack of warning about HIV/AIDS, reports of HIV/AIDS in the village, the distance to the public health centre and the lack of a health centre. These findings, while unsurprising, emphasise the importance of HIV/AIDS as a socioeconomic issue. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract: Conflicts constitute some negative influences on households' economic activities. In Nigeria, the past few years have witnessed progressive crises in some states and the growing level of insecurity is affecting households' economic livelihoods. This paper analyzed the determi nants of food insecurity indicator in conflict-affected regions in Nigeria. The data were collected in 2017 from 582 respondents in the North East, North-central, and South-South zones. The data were analyzed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and heteroscedasticity consistent Tobit regression. The results showed that in the combined data, the average number of days per week that respondents relied on less preferred food, limited food portions, and reduced the number of meal per day were 3.42, 2.68 and 2.33, respectively. The PCA was used to generate indicator of food insecurity, with North-East, Northcentral, and South-South zones having average indices of 0.16, -0.09 and -0.02, respectively. The Tobit regression results revealed that in the combined data, food insecurity was promoted by household size, urban residence and receipt of remittances, but reduced by unchanged income, credit purchase and reliance on food aid. In north central, food insecurity was promoted by receipt of remittances, but reduced by ability to grow own crops. In the north eastern zone, food insecurity was promoted by urban residence, income increased, and increase in food prices, but declined by income unchanged, and pension income. In the South-South zone, food insecurity was promoted by household size, urban residence and receipt of remittance income, but declined by credit purchase and unchanged income. It was concluded that addressing food insecurity among residents in conflict-affected areas requires preferential assistances to large families, urban residents, and those with high dependence on remittances. However, the promotion of initiatives for credit purchase, food aid the and ability to grow own crops are potentially able to reduce food insecurity. Keywords: Food insecurity, conflict, remittances, food aid, credit, Nigeria.