88 research outputs found
An exploration of registered mental health nurses (RMNs) perceptions of restrictive practices in forensic men’s medium secure services
No full textPurpose: Many aspects of men’s forensic medium secure hospitals involve containment and control of the patients, who are considered a risk to themselves and others. This entails the use of a range of restrictive measures. However, use of restrictive practices is a prevalent concern impacting not only the recovery of individuals admitted in Men’s Forensic Medium Secure Services but also the wellbeing of the staff members. The purpose of this study was to research the perceptions of Registered Mental Health Nurses (RMN), with regards to restrictive practices in men’s medium secure services. The aim was to situate the RMN staff, as the primary source of knowledge to gain an understanding of concerns regarding the implementation of restrictive practice derived from experience.
Methods: Thirteen semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group comprising of six participants were conducted with individuals who were identified as RMNs, permanently employed within a men’s medium secure hospital, and who had worked for at least six months in this position. The study excluded all RMNs who were directly managed by the researcher, to avoid bias. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used because not much was known about RMNs’ perceptions on restrictive practices. Data was analysed using qualitative thematic analysis to gain insight into the issues. The focus group discussion was used to validate (and expand on) the data from interview transcripts.
Main Findings: Five superordinate themes emerged from the RMN’s narratives and the focus group discussion; RMNs’ understandings of restrictive practices, the significance of care and control and the tension between those aspects of the work, negotiable and non-negotiable restrictive practices, the importance of RMNs’ experience, and unwanted and unexpected effects. These themes reflect the RMNs perceptions and experience of restrictive practice in forensic men’s medium secure services and highlight some of the tensions and contradictory demands on how they implemented restrictive measures.
Conclusions: The findings reflected RMNs’ reports of the benefits and hindrances of restrictive practices in forensic men’s medium secure services, and the impact of restrictive practice on delivering quality patient care. They also highlight the inconsistent nature of restrictive practices in different wards. The study supports current recommendations that the services should encourage restrictive practices to be used as a last resort; but findings indicate also the need to review and revise current policy and practice to take account of the realities of ward cultures and the impact of staff capacity and resources on the aim of reducing the use of restrictive approaches. The findings also highlighted the need for further development of supportive frameworks and training to enable RMNs to manage restrictive practices more effectively. Future research directions are also discussed
Vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and change in smallholder farming systems in Zimbabwe
No full text Keywords: Climate change; Increased climate variability; Vulnerability; Smallholder farmers; Adaptation Climate change and increased climate variability are currently seen as the major constraints to the already stressed smallholder farming livelihood system in southern Africa. The main objectives of this study were first to understand the nature and sources of vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate variability and change, and second to use this knowledge to evaluate possible farm-level management options that can enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers in the face of increased climate variability and long-term change in climate. The study was conducted in Makoni and Hwedza districts in eastern Zimbabwe. Local famers’ and expert empirical knowledge were combined using research tools that mainly included detailed field observations and surveys, systems analysis and field experimentation, and simulation modelling (the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM)). To understand the nature and sources of vulnerability, long term climate data were analysed and farmers were interviewed individually and in groups. On-farm experimentation and simulation modelling were conducted to evaluate the impacts and interactions of adaptation options namely maize cultivar choice, staggered planting dates, and variable fertilizer rates, on maize yield under both short-term climate variability and long-term climate change. Another on-farm experiment was conducted to assess whether small grains (finger millet and sorghum) perform as well as maize under variable soil and rainfall conditions. The long-term rainfall and temperature analyses closely supports farmers’ perceptions that the total annual rainfall has so far not changed, but variability in the rainfall distribution within seasons has increased. The number of rain days has decreased, and the frequency of dry spells within season increased. The mean daily minimum temperature increased by 0.2°C per decade in Makoni, and by 0.5°C per decade in Hwedza, over the period from 1962 to 2000. The surface air temperature is further projected to increase significantly in Makoni and Hwedza, by 2100. The impacts of rising temperatures and increased rainfall variability among smallholder households were highly differentiated because different households depend on varied farming livelihood sub-systems, which were exposed uniquely to aspects of climatic risk. For example, livestock production was sensitive to drought due to lack of feed, affecting resource-endowed farmers, who often own relatively large herds of cattle. Crop production was more sensitive to increased rainfall variability, affecting especially farmers with intermediate resource endowment. Availability of wild fruits and social safety nets were affected directly and indirectly by extreme temperatures and increased rainfall variability, impacting the livelihoods of poorer farmers. Farmers have also access to different biophysical and socioeconomic resources such as fertilizer and farm labour inputs, and as a result they respond variedly to impacts of a changing climate. Thus, alongside climate variability and change, farmers also faced biophysical and socioeconomic challenges, and these challenges had strong interactions with adaptation options to climate change. Experimentation in this studydemonstrated that the maize cultivars currently on the market in Zimbabwe, and in many parts of southern Africa, exhibit narrow differences in maturity time such that they do not respond differently to prolonged dry spells. The yield performance for all three cultivars is projected to be similar in future change in climates, consistent with results from the experiments.In the current cropping system farmers can select any cultivar available on the market without a yield penalty. However, with climate change none of the available cultivars will be able to compensate for the decline in yield. Greater maize grain yields were obtained with both the early (25 October – 20 November) and normal (21 November – 15 December) plantings, with no significant differences between these planting windows(e.g. on average 5 t ha-1 in Makoni, and 3 t ha-1 in Hwedza for the high fertilization rate).Contrary to previous research findings, there is a reasonably wide planting window in which good yields can be obtained if the rains start on time, but if the start of the rains is delayed until after the beginning of December planting should be done as soon as possible. Regardless of the amount of fertilizer applied, yields were reduced strongly when planting was substantially delayed by four weeks after the start of the rainy season. Maize yielded more than finger millet and sorghum even when rainfall was poor in the 2010/2011 season. For example, maize yielded 2.4 t ha-1 compared with 1.6 t ha-1 for finger millet and 0.4 t ha-1 for sorghum in the 2010/2011 rainfall season in Makoni. Finger millet and sorghum failed to emerge unless fertilizer was applied. Application of manure alone failed to address this challenge of poor emergence until fertilizer was added. Sorghum suffered critical yield losses due to bird damage. The better performance of maize over finger millet and sorghum suggested that the recommendation to substitute small grains for maize as a viable adaptation option to a changing climate, will neither be the best option for robust adaptation nor attractive for farmers in southern Africa. Alternatively spreading crops across the farm and in time can be a viable strategy to spread climatic risk as well as improve human nutrition. Poor soil fertility constrained yield more strongly than rainfall and late planting, as demonstrated by the large yield gap (> 1.2 t ha-1) between the unfertilized and fertilized cultivars even in the poor rainfall season (2010/2011). Fertilization increased yield significantly under both the baseline and future climates particularly when planting before mid-December.The maize response to mineral nitrogen is, however, projected to decline as climate changes, although effects only become substantial towards the end of the 21st Century. Soil fertility management is therefore likely to be a major entry point for increasing the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate change and increased climate variability. However, management of factors related to both nutrient resource access and farmers decisions to enhance resource use efficiencies are critical if agriculture is to be used as robust adaptation options to climate change by smallholder in Southern Africa.</p
Point of no return? Rehabilitating desgraded soils for increased crop productivity on samllholder farmas in eastern Zimbabwe
No full textSoil degradation is a major threat to Southern Africa's agricultural production. Crops show generally weak responses to mineral fertilizers on degraded soils. A three-year study was conducted between 2009 and 2012 on smallholder farms in eastern Zimbabwe to explore entry points for rehabilitating degraded croplands using principles of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) supported through farmers' local knowledge of soils. Participatory research approaches were first used to investigate farmers' understanding of soil degradation and the commonly used local diagnostic indicators. Farmers' determinants of degraded soils centered on crop performance, indicator weed species and soil physical attributes, and matched laboratory parameters. Overall, physical and chemical properties of the degraded soils were significantly lower than reported values for productive sandy soils in Zimbabwe. Evaluated on ten degraded field sites of corresponding catenary positions and similar slope, the main ISFM options involved nitrogen-fixing herbaceous legumes planted in the first year, with subsequent addition of cattle manure in the second year. In the third year, the influence of the ISFM options on maize productivity and changes in soil biological activity were then evaluated. Phosphorus was applied every year under each sequence. The controls were natural fallow and continuous maize. The treatments were randomly assigned to plots at each of the experimental sites and replicated across farms. Above-ground biomass carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) accumulation was 3038 kg ha− 1 and 203 kg ha− 1, respectively, under 1-year indigenous legume fallow (indifallow) against 518 kg C ha− 1 and 14 kg N ha− 1 under 1-year natural fallow. Two-year indifallow produced approximately three times the biomass N attained under the 2-year natural fallow. When all the treatments were planted to a maize test crop in the third year, herbaceous legume-based sequences showed the highest response to mineral fertilizer N compared with natural fallow-based sequences and continuous fertilized maize. A regression of maize yields against mineral N fertilizer showed a maximum yield of 2.5 t ha− 1 under the herbaceous legume-based sequences against 1 t ha− 1 under continuous fertilized maize and natural fallow-based options following addition of 120 kg ha− 1 of mineral N fertilizer. ‘Green-start’, a Crotalaria juncea L. (sunnhemp)-based sequence, and ‘Indifallow-start 1’, an indigenous legume-based sequence, gave the highest microbial biomass C (MBC) of 243 mg kg− 1 soil compared with 187 mg kg− 1 soil under continuous maize. Microbial biomass N showed a similar trend. Under ‘Green-start’ and ‘Indifallow-start 1’, MBC to organic C ratio averaged 7; about one and half times more than under natural fallow-based sequences and continuous fertilized maize. Consistent with microbial biomass, soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emission under ‘Green-start’ and ‘Indifallow-start 1’ was 22% higher than under natural fallow-based sequences. Continuous maize treatments gave higher metabolic quotients (qCO2) than legume-based sequences, indicating a lower microbial efficiency under the former. We concluded that short-term restoration of productivity of degraded sandy soils should focus on high quality organic resource application and P fertilization to stimulate microbial activity and induce responses to mineral fertilizers. When coupled to P fertilization, herbaceous legume-based ISFM sequences provide a potential entry point for reversing soil degradation and offer opportunities for increasing crop productivity in dominant smallholder farming systems of Zimbabwe and other parts of Southern Africa.Fil: Nezomba, Hatirarami. University of Zimbabwe. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering; Zimbabwe. University of Zimbabwe. Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern; ZimbabweFil: Mtambanengwe, Florence. University of Zimbabwe. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering; Zimbabwe. University of Zimbabwe. Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern; ZimbabweFil: Tittonell, Pablo Adrian. Wageningen University and Research Centre; Holanda. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Mapfumo, Paul. University of Zimbabwe. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering; Zimbabwe. University of Zimbabwe. Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern; Zimbabw
Cotton Production Under Contract System In Small Holder Farming Sector Of Zimbabwe
No full textAbstract Contract farming has evolved in communal areas to ensure that the resource poor smallholder farmers are equipped to increase crop output per hectare. In this study cotton production under contract farming was assessed in Kanyaga Communal area of Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe through a survey. Fifty (50) smallholder farmers were randomly selected to participate in the survey. The survey sought to identify such aspects as assets that the farmers had, organisations that are involved in input provision, types of inputs and timing of provision of inputs, nature of technical support that was provided to the farmers as well as farmers' perception of the cotton seed buyers. Farmers in the Kanyaga smallholder cotton producing area had various assets to assist them in cotton production. They receive inputs such as seed and chemicals. Seed cotton buyers offered technical support, which included training on marketing, agronomy, farm management and transport. The absence of assistance with operations such as tillage and funds for harvesting reduces the benefits of the interaction between the cottonseed buyers and the farmers. Cottonseed buyers should introduce a participatory approach in price determination as strategy of making the relationship with farmers sustainable
School counsellors' perceptions of headmasters' attitudes towards guidance and counselling in Zimbabwe secondary schoolsskills in secondary school agriculture
No full textThe study sought to find out school counsellors' perceptions of headmasters' attitudes towards the guidance and counselling programme in Zimbabwe secondary schools. Two hundred and six (N=206) school counsellors participated in the study. A questionnaire was developed to collect the data. The SPSS 7.5 version was used to analyze the data. A t-test for independent samples was used. The results revealed that headmasters were perceived as having negative attitudes towards the guidance and councelling programme. There was no significant difference between male and female counsellors' perceptions of headmasters' attitudes towards the guidance and counselling programme. Recommendations for improving headmasters' attitudes were made.Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 17 (1) March 2005: pp. 19-2
Managing soil fertility diversity to enhance resource use efficiencies in smallholder farming systems: a case from Murewa District, Zimbabwe
No full textSmallholder farms in sub-Saharan African exhibit substantial heterogeneity in soil fertility, and nutrient resource allocation strategies that address this variability are required to increase nutrient use efficiencies. We applied the Field-scale resource Interactions, use Efficiencies and Long-term soil fertility Development (FIELD) model to explore consequences of various manure and fertilizer application strategies on crop productivity and soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics on farms varying in resource endowment in a case study village in Murewa District, Zimbabwe. FIELD simulated a rapid decline in SOC and maize yields when native woodlands were cleared for maize cultivation without fertilizer inputs coupled with removal of crop residues. Applications of 10 t manure ha-1 year-1 for 10 years were required to restore maize productivity to the yields attainable under native woodland. Long-term application of manure at 5 and 3 t ha-1 resulted in SOC contents comparable to zones of high and medium soil fertility observed on farms of wealthy cattle owners. Targeting manure application to restore SOC to 50–60% of contents under native woodlands was sufficient to increase productivity to 90% of attainable yields. Short-term increases in crop productivity achieved by reallocating manure to less fertile fields were short-lived on sandy soils. Preventing degradation of the soils under intensive cultivation is difficult, particularly in low input farming systems, and attention should be paid to judicious use of the limited nutrient resources to maintain a degree of soil fertility that supports good crop response to fertilizer applicatio
Legumes in soil fertility management: The case of pigeonpea in smallholder farming systems of Zimbabwe
No full textWe investigated the current use of legumes in soil fertility management and the feasibility of promoting use of pigeonpea in smallholder farming systems of a Communal Area in Northeast of Zimbabwe. Participatory rural appraisal methods were used to establish farmer management strategies and perceptions on major constraints to crop productivity. Soil fertility parameters were evaluated through farmer participatory experiments. The study revealed limited cultivation of legumes for both human nutrition and soil fertility management. Legumes were generally regarded as women's crops, and therefore minor, because of men's domination over women in the household decision-making process. Balancing gender interests in terms of allocation of inputs and distribution of benefits at household level was identified as a major challenge to the implementation of legume technologies. Poor extension thrusts with respect to legume production, and poor agronomic practices were identified as major production constraints. Over-emphasis on maize in the current extension packages led to the relegation of legumes to the status of 'minor crops'. Participatory experiments suggested that pigeonpea can be successfully grown by farmers under poor soil fertility conditions. The crop yielded about 3 to 9 t ha-1 of shoot biomass in a single cropping season, and up to 23 t ha-1 after two seasons of growth. High amounts leaf litter released by the crop in one season (up to 3 t ha-1) are considered a potentially viable source of nutrients for subsequent crops, as confirmed by a 22% maize yield increase obtained from a field that was previous cultivated with pigeonpea.
RÉSUMÉ
Les investigations sur l' utilisation des légumineuses dans la gestion de fertilité du sol ainsi que les possibilités d' incorporer le pois cajan dans le système agricole de petits fermiers ont été fait dans un milieu rural au Nord-Est du Zimbabwe. La méthode "Participatory rural appraisal" a été utilisée pour déterminer les stratégies de gestion du sol et les perceptions qui contribuent à la réduction de la productivité de la récolte. Les paramètres de fertilité du sol ont été analysés en collaboration avec des agriculteurs. Cette étude a révelé qu' il y a une utilisation limitée de légumineuses dans l' alimentation des gens ainsi que dans la gestion de fertilité du sol. Les légumineuses sont géneralement considérées commes la récolte pour les femmes, sur ce, de peu d' importance, et à cause de la domination des hommes dans la prise de décision dans le foyer. L'exécution des téchnologies d' incorporer les légumineuses dans le système de production agricole s' est heurtée à un problème majeur de domination de l'homme, ses préférences dans la répartition et la distributions des intrants et les bénéfices. Un autre problème identifié, c'est une vulgarisation très limitée de la production de légumineuses et une difficile adaptation agronomique de variétés de légumineuses qui sont déjà dans le système. Le système de vulgarisation existant s'est concentré plus sur la production du maïs, ce qui a mené à considérer les lègumineuses commes les plantes de moins d' importance. Les expériences participatives ont suggeré que le pois cajan peut être produit par les fermiers dans des sols moins fertiles. La production a été estimée de 3 à 9 t ha-1 de biomasse dans une seule saison de production, et de 23 t ha-1 après deux saisons. Une quantité considérable de litière de feuilles venant de plantes dans une seule saison (jusqu'a 3 t ha-1) est considéree comme une source importante de nutriments pour les plantes consécutives, comme l' augmention de 22% de production de maïs l'a confirmé après une culture de pois cajan.
(Af Crop Science and Production: 2001 9(4): 629-644
Black Emasculated Patriarchy
No full textThis article posits that the shift from industrial capitalism to postindustrial capitalism in the West has led to what Mocombe deems emasculated and feminine patriarchy, the assumption of patriarchal norms by the state, its ideological apparatuses, queers, and women (given the feminization and queerification of the postindustrial workplace) from individual men whose masculinity is no longer associated with being producer and provider as it was under industrial capitalism; instead, they have been interpellated and embourgeoised, like their female counterparts, to define their masculinity as sensitive entrepreneurs, consumers, and or service workers. Black men in this social structure are, paradoxically, emasculated and hyper-masculinized. The former, given their poverty and under-education in the postindustrial social structure they are unable to assume the service-worker, consumer, and entrepreneur emasculated identity required to recursively organize and reproduce their being-in-the-world; the latter, the entertainment industry and athletic domain have become the spheres they are relegated to where their hyper-masculinity is overemphasized as means to the emasculated identity
Comparative short-term effects of different quality organic resources on maize productivity under two different environments in Zimbabwe
No full textMajor challenges for combined use of organic and mineral nutrient sources in smallholder agriculture include variable type and quality of the resources, their limited availability, timing of their relative application and the proportions at which the two should be combined. Short-term nutrient supply capacity of five different quality organic resources ranging from high to low quality, namely Crotalaria juncea, Calliandra calothyrsus, cattle manure, maize stover and Pinus patula sawdust were tested in the field using maize as a test crop. The study was conducted on two contrasting soil types at Makoholi and Domboshawa, which fall under different agro-ecological regions of Zimbabwe. Makoholi is a semi-arid area (750 mm yr?1) soils are sandy-clay loams with 220 g kg?1 clay. Each organic resource treatment was applied at low (2.5 t C ha?1) and high (7.5 t C ha?1) biomass rates at each site. Each plot was sub-divided into two with one half receiving 120 kg N ha?1 against zero in the other. At Makoholi, there was a nine-fold increase in maize grain yield under high application rates of C. juncea over the unfertilized control, which yielded only 0.4 t ha?1. Combinations of mineral N fertilizer with the leguminous resources and manure resulted in between 24% and 104% increase in grain yield against sole fertilizer, implying an increased nutrient recovery by maize under organic–mineral combinations. Maize biomass measured at 2 weeks after crop emergence already showed treatment differences, with biomass yields increasing linearly with soil mineral N availability (R 2 = 0.75). This 2-week maize biomass in turn gave a positive linear relationship (R 2 = 0.82) with grain yield suggesting that early season soil mineral N availability largely determined final yield. For low quality resources of maize stover and sawdust, application of mineral N fertilizer resulted in at least a seven-fold grain yield increase compared with sole application of the organic resources. Such nutrient combinations resulted in grain harvest indices of between 44% and 48%, up from a mean of 35% for sole application, suggesting the potential of increasing maize productivity from combinations of low quality resources with mineral fertilizer under depleted sandy soils. At Domboshawa, grain yields averaged 7 t ha?1 and did not show any significant treatment differences. This was attributed to relatively high levels of fertility under the sandy-clay loams during this first year of the trial implementation. Differences in N supply by different resources were only revealed in grain and stover uptake. Grain N concentration from the high quality leguminous resources averaged 2% against 1.5% from sawdust treatments. We conclude that early season soil mineral N availability is the primary regulatory factor for maize productivity obtainable under poor sandy soils. Maize biomass at 2 weeks is a potential tool for early season assessment of potential yields under constrained environments. However, the likely impact on system productivity following repeated application of high N-containing organic materials on different soil types remains poorly understood
Participatory Technology Development and Transfer: The Key to Soil Fertility and Water Management Technology Adoption in Zimbabwe. Report No. 2
No full textThere are few non-farm engines of growth and poverty alleviation in most sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This implies that smallholder agriculture is likely to remain the major source of rural growth and livelihood improvement for a long time to come, as well as the center of individual nation’s economic growth (World Bank 1997). Many sources continue to establish that the persisting impoverishment of rural SSA is due to declining land productivity under an increasing population that uses low input farming methods (IFAD 1994; World Bank 1996; Woodhouse 2002). In addition, farmers have invested little in soil fertility management and crop yield despite decades of research (Ryan and Spencer 2001; Mapfumo and Giller 2001; Scoones 2001). The consequence of this is widespread accelerated erosion, degradation of soils, and deforestation (Hoffman and Ashwell 2001). As the natural resource base is degraded, it is becoming increasingly difficult for resource-poor farmers to maintain their livelihoods and quality of life
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