Rural Subsistence Research Articles

Subjective well-being across the life course among non-industrialized populations.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is often described as being U-shaped over adulthood, declining to a midlife slump and then improving thereafter. Improved SWB in later adulthood has been considered a paradox given age-related declines in health and social losses. While SWB has mostly been studied in high-income countries, it remains largely unexplored in rural subsistence populations lacking formal institutions that reliably promote social welfare. Here, we evaluate the age profile of SWB among three small-scale subsistence societies (n = 468; study 1), forest users from 23 low-income countries (n = 6987; study 2), and Tsimane' horticulturalists (n = 1872; study 3). Across multiple specifications, we find variability in SWB age profiles. In some cases, we find no age-related differences in SWB or even inverted U-shapes. Adjusting for confounders reduces observed age effects. Our findings highlight variability in average well-being trajectories over the life course. Ensuring successful aging will require a greater focus on cultural and socioecological determinants of individual trajectories.

Ethnobotanical Inventory of Plants Used by Mountainous Rural Communities in NW Portugal.

Mountains matter. Rural subsistence communities living in areas with high biodiversity, such as mountains, are hotspots of ecological knowledge. However, modern lifestyles may threaten this unique cultural heritage. Our study aimed to document and analyze information on plants used to fulfill the everyday needs of the people in three rural communities in NW Portugal. Fieldwork was carried out for a period of one year and information was collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. A total of 98 species, belonging to 46 families, were identified, and 142 vernacular names were recorded. Ethnobotanical richness was similar among the studied communities. The five most frequently cited species were: Pterospartum tridentatum, Erica arborea, Ruta graveolens, Zea mays and Chamaemelum nobile. Phanerophytes and hemicryptophytes comprise nearly 81% of the list. The top three uses categories (total 14) were: medicine, fuel and ritual. Digestive, skin and respiratory symptoms were the most often conditions treated with plants. Medicinal plants were used fresh and dried, mostly as infusions. The insights gathered here are important for the preservation of the cultural heritage of the local communities. Moreover, the data are of considerable scientific interest because it provides the fundaments for future studies that aim to validate/invalidate specific uses.

SUBSISTENCE FARMER'S PRODUCTION DIVERSITY AND MARKET ACCESS: IMPACT ON RURAL WOMEN AND CHILDREN'S DIETARY DIVERSITY

Hunger and poverty are severe threats to developing nations like Pakistan. Rural people in developing countries are facing malnutrition and undernourishment due to low-income levels and limited access to nutritious food. Women's diets are the most crucial factor for their health and children. Increased dietary diversity is a significant approach to improving nutrition and health, and it can be enhanced by improving the production diversity among rural subsistence farming households. The study was conducted in four districts of the south Punjab region of Pakistan. Using the well-structured and pretested questionnaire, multistage stratified random sampling was employed to collect data from 600 rural households. The women's dietary diversity score, children's dietary diversity score, and production diversity score were calculated. The results indicate that women's dietary diversity is concerned with production diversity score; its interaction with market access, education, family size, and farming experience positively impacts dietary diversity. In contrast, the age of the respondent has a negative impact. The same association among factors was also observed for children's dietary diversity score. Based on the study results, it is recommended that there is a need to diversify the crops produced by small farmers, especially food crops so that they can get balanced food and not rely much on external purchases. Overall, the Government can play a crucial role by providing opportunities and facilities to grow non-conventional crops instead of conventional cash crops.

Agroecosystem-based analysis of household dietary diversity and its linkage with agricultural production diversification in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia: Multilevel analysis approach

Even though the UN's Sustainable Development Goals emphasize improving dietary diversity and overall nutritional status globally by promoting sustainable agriculture, inadequately diversified dietary intake remains a public health problem in many low-income countries, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main objective of this study was to gather relevant information to gain an improved understanding of household dietary diversity and explore the role that production diversification could play within household diets and nutrition so that appropriate interventions could be implemented with the goal of enhancing nutrition-sensitive agriculture while also considering the varied features across the agroecosystems. Agroecosystem-based cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected predominantly through semi-structured questionnaires and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, and a multilevel mixed-effect model. Results showed that the usual dietary intake of households has a monotonous pattern dominated by starchy staple foods, and consumption of fruits, vegetables, and animal-sourced foods was very limited. One out of five households had inadequate dietary diversity but varied significantly across agroecosystems. About 26% of the heterogeneity in dietary diversity was attributed due to agroecosystem level factors. In the fixed-effect part of the model, production diversification, wealth status, number of meals per day, market access, and annual mean rainfall were significantly associated with household dietary diversity status. The findings of our research contribute to give insights on the linkage between dietary diversity and production diversification among subsistence rural farmers across contrasting agroecosystem zones. Therefore, understanding agroecosystem variations and local context in the rural subsistence farming setup is a key point in designing nutrition-sensitive agriculture.

Targeting performance of Dibao program in China: An empirical study based on the 2020 China Family Panel Studies

The rural minimum living security (Dibao) Program is regarded as an essential means to alleviating absolute poverty in rural areas. This study uses logistic regression to identify the influencing factors for the distribution of Dibao subsidies based on the CFPS 2020 database covering 28 provinces in China. Then, we categorize the sample into four types of households to further analyze the targeting performance of Dibao program with the method of multiple logit regression. The results reveal that the living standards of households, such as public facilities, drinking water, cooking fuel, housing value, and assets can impact the distribution and targeting performance of Dibao subsidies. Having educational burdens can significantly increase the probability of being covered by Dibao program for non-low-income households. Large family-size households that are involved in agricultural-related work and use electricity or other fuels for cooking are more likely to receive Dibao subsidies. When compared with the eastern region, households in the western region are more likely to gain Dibao subsidies. The results of propensity scores reveal that the contemporary mismatch of the rural minimum living security system has been overestimated in many research by simply treating non-low-income households that receive Dibao. However, the inclusionary targeting errors are still high (76%), which might indicate that there are still shortcomings in the targeting mechanism for the rural minimum subsistence allowance system. The research findings generate useful implications for policymakers to improve the accuracy in allocating rural Dibao subsidies.

Association of food consumption patterns and nutritional status of children under 5 years from rural households in Northern regions, Namibia

BackgroundMany developing countries, Namibia included, have a high prevalence of malnutrition among children, especially in rural subsistence farming areas where inadequate food supply is common. Poor diets in children under 5 years may result in negative health impacts. This study determined the association of food consumption patterns and nutritional status of children under 5 years from rural households in Oshana and Oshikoto regions in Namibia.MethodEmploying a cross-sectional descriptive design, 377 children under 5 years participated in this study using purposive sampling. Validated dietary diversity and food frequency questionnaires were used to obtain information on demographic characteristics, commonly consumed food per week, and meal frequencies for the recruited children. Anthropometric measurements were obtained to assess nutritional status of children using Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) software. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using the IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 27.ResultsStaple foods, mostly grains, roots and tubers, along with flesh foods, legumes and nuts were commonly consumed. Vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables were solely consumed in Oshana region (10.7%) and not in Oshikoto. Oshana exhibited a lower dietary diversity score (4±1 SD) compared to Oshikoto (5±1 SD). The prevalence of adequate feeding practices varied, with Oshana having 38.8% meeting minimum milk feeding frequency (MMFF), 55.6% minimum dietary diversity (MDD), 69.8% minimum meal frequency (MMF), and 27% minimum acceptable diet (MAD). In Oshikoto, these figures were lower at 2%, 7%, 32%, and 0.5%, respectively. Stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight were also documented, with slight differences between the two regions. The study did not find association between nutritional status and MMFF, MDD and MAD. However, significant associations were found between specific food types, amount of food, breastfeeding length, MMF and malnutrition indicators in both regions (p<0.05).ConclusionMost study participants consumed locally available staple foods. Stunting, underweight, and wasting were prevalent among children in the two regions which were significantly associated to the amount of food consumed, MMF and/ some food types. Improving food environments and eliminating access barriers to diversified diets can mitigate high prevalence of malnutrition among rural children.

COVID-19 Increased Mortality Salience, Collectivism, and Subsistence Activities: A Theory-Driven Analysis of Online Adaptation in the United States, Indonesia, Mexico, and Japan

How does a life-threatening pandemic affect a culture? The Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution, and Human Development predicts that danger, as indicated by rising death rates and narrowing social worlds, shifts human psychology and behavior toward that found in small-scale, collectivistic, and rural subsistence ecologies. In particular, mortality salience, collectivism, and engagement in subsistence activities should increase as death rates rise and the social world retracts. Studies on the psychological response to the pandemic in the United States confirmed these predicted increases. The present study sought to generalize these previous findings by comparing the frequency of conceptually relevant linguistic terms used in Google searches and Twitter posts in the United States, Japan, Indonesia, and Mexico for 30 days before the coronavirus pandemic began in each country with frequencies of the same terms for 30 days after. Generally, we found that mortality salience increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality; collectivism increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality and increased mortality salience; and subsistence activities increased to the extent that countries experienced excess COVID mortality and/or stay-at-home-policies. Almost all these increases went beyond the general increase in internet use, which was a control variable in all analyses. These findings support a growing body of research documenting a human response to ecological danger.

Friendship and partner choice in rural Colombia

Friendship is a recurring feature of human sociality. Extant evidence has highlighted several axes upon which the formation and maintenance of friendships rest, and has emphasised the importance of market-like mechanisms and preferential assortment in such dynamics. Such evidence has emerged from qualitative ethnographic descriptions, and observational or experimental case studies in relatively homogeneous samples from Western and industrialised settings. Here, we provide one of the first empirical evaluations of the structure of friendship networks in a rural subsistence setting. We collected individual-level friendship network data, and detailed economic and demographic information from individuals in four communities in rural Colombia ( N = 470). We analyse these data using a combined social relations and stochastic block model. Our results highlight the importance of preferential assortment on the basis of several socio-demographic traits in all study communities. The extent to which friendship and social support networks overlap appears to vary considerably across communities, with greater overlap being observed in more impoverished areas. Similarly, the extent of wealth homophily was greater in more impoverished areas. Such findings suggest that variation in the axes upon which friendship rests may be affected by community-level variation in economic and demographic composition. • We provide one of the first quantitative empirical examinations of friendship networks in a rural subsistence setting. • We find that individuals preferentially assort with those who share similar socio-demographic attributes. • Differences in friendship ties across settings; the friendship–cooperation nexus is stronger in more marginalized communities.

The effect of moisture contents on the physical properties of both bambara groundnut seeds and pods in South Africa

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean (L) Verdc) is an indigenous African crop. In South Africa, the crop is grown by rural subsistence farmers. This crop is classified as a drought-tolerant crop and it can produce good yields in poor soil conditions. However, statistics show that Bambara groundnut production is currently neglected by industries due to the lack of research on the crop focused on postharvest technologies, and agro-processing. Current research on the crop is mostly focused on agronomic and growing characteristics. Data on the physical properties and processing equipment for the Bambara groundnuts are limited. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of moisture contents on both Bambara groundnut seeds (shelled) and pods (unshelled). The physical properties of the pods and seeds were measured at three moisture content levels. The finding showed that axial dimensions, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, volume, and weight increase as moisture content increases. The static coefficient of friction of seeds and pods increased from 0.15 to 0.19 and 0.29 to 0.31, respectively. Simirlarly, the bulk density of shelled and unshelled groundnuts increased from 500 to 955, and 355 to 422 kg.m-3, respectively. The results also showed that the true density of seeds rose from 994 to 1832 kg.m-3 and for the unshelled groundnuts it increased linearly from 532 to 655 kg.m-3. The required forces for cracking both bambara groundnut seeds and kernels showed a declining trend as moisture increased from 6 to 20%. The cracking forces required for Bambara groundnuts kernels at 6, 15, and 20 % are 32.5 ±12 N, 29.9 ±15.3 N, and 28.9 ±9 N, respectively. As the moisture increased, the data deviation from the mean decreased from 16.30 to 10.1 N. In terms of designing agro processing eqiupment or machinary such as a shelling machine, the physical properties from the lower moisture content are recommended. Key words: cracking force, physical properties, moisture content, Bambara groundnuts

Lídia Jorge’s allegories of democracy

ABSTRACT This article focuses on Lídia Jorge’s first two novels, O dia dos prodígios (The Day of Prodigies) and O cais das merendas (Picnic Quay), as anti-realist allegories that challenge the consensus vision of a free and equal “people”, encouraged by propaganda, celebrating the Portuguese Revolution of 25 April 1974. Following Jacques Rancière’s philosophical insights on literariness and democracy, each of the novels is analyzed in relation to an equivocal, misunderstood process of democratization that continues to exclude and ignore “the part of those who do not count” in the theoretical equality of all citizens in a given regime. Specifically, the analysis sheds light on what Prime Minister Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo once called “the small revolutions” of anonymous common people who, rather than submit to an equality that shuts them out, perform theatrical, political acts of disagreement calling attention to themselves as human subjects of social injustices or wrongs. Specific attention is given to the geo-cultural location and the economic configuration of the communities fictionalized in each novel, dramatizing different stages of the so-called transition to democracy. Jorge’s complex texts provoke us to “see” history otherwise, according to the experience of a “people” confined to a coastal fringe of land who are undergoing a violent but unavoidable transformation from a rural subsistence economy to a capitalist market economy dependent on foreign investments and a liberal multi-party democracy.

Livestock Depredation by Coyotes and Domestic Dogs in Mexico

The impact of domestic dog and coyote depredation on livestock has received little attention in Mexico. We used livestock depredation insurance claims from 2017 to 2020 and landscape attributes to identify the magnitude of depredation and model the risk of depredation by domestic dogs and coyotes throughout Mexico using maximum entropy modeling. Combined livestock depredations by coyotes and domestic dogs comprised 50.3% of all livestock depredation claims in Mexico. Depredation by domestic dogs was associated with landscape attributes indicative of rural villages and subsistence livestock husbandry. More intensive or larger-scale agricultural land uses (e.g., farming, large ranching enterprises) were associated with coyote depredation, in particular increasing presence of small- to medium-sized livestock (i.e., sheep, etc.). Both domestic dogs and coyotes posed a risk of depredation across much of Mexico (i.e., 23% and 40% of Mexico with > 0.50 likelihood of depredation, respectively), with risk likelihood maps for each canid being similar (i.e., similarity indices = 0.75–0.84) for most risk levels but showing little similarity with respect to regions of high (> 0.70) and very high (> 0.90) likelihood of depredation (similarity = 0.38 and 0.19, respectively). By identifying areas of high depredation risk, our models provide a planning tool to facilitate allocation of resources such as insurance programs, identify areas that would benefit from additional mitigation programs, and provide guidance for managing landscape attributes to decrease risk and limit vulnerability of livestock to predation.

Digital inclusive finance and rural household subsistence consumption in China

This paper examines the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on the subsistence consumption of rural households in China. We find that rural residents in areas with well-developed DIF tend to have greater subsistence consumption. Channel analyses show that such tendencies can be explained by the income growth effect and vulnerability mitigation effect associated with DIF. The income growth effect occurs as the development of DIF promotes rural residents’ income. Income growth is stimulated via improved entrepreneurship to earn operational income or inducing rural-to-urban migration to earn wage income. Meanwhile, the observed vulnerability mitigation effect suggests that DIF could reduce rural residents’ future income uncertainty by alleviating the impact of exogenous shocks. Furthermore, we apply Lasso algorithms to predict expected consumption, and find that the development of DIF is associated with a higher probability for overconsumption in rural households. Such side effect occur mainly among individuals with weak time preferences. We conclude that, the development of DIF has merits, because doing so is beneficial to increasing rural residents’ economic resilience and building an inclusive, sustainable and prosperous society in the post-COVID-19 era.

Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls

River ice thickness (RIT) directly influences human activities, such as rural transportation and subsistence activities, in addition to ecosystem and hydrology processes in the Arctic. Knowledge of RIT response to the rapid Arctic warming is very limited or essentially lacking. The scientific objective of this study is to investigate changes and variations in RIT and their response to rapid Arctic warming. We used ground-based measurements of 45 river gauge sites from 1961 through 2015 spanning 12 river basins across Alaska. The results indicate that the long-term mean maximum river ice thickness (MRIT) ranged from 40.3 ± 12.7 cm in the southeast to 187.3 ± 31.9 cm in northwest Alaska. MRIT decreased dramatically from 1961 to 2015, on average, at a rate of −0.26 ± 0.17 cm per year, and RIT declined significantly in all months from October through March, and more rapidly in winter than in autumn and spring. The impacts of air temperature and snowfall on MRIT change were analysed, and their relative influences were 74% and 26%, respectively. Specifically, an increase in air temperature was the primary factor contributing to MRIT decrease, while increasing snowfall, and snow on river ice enhanced MRIT decline. Seasonally, snowfall was the primary regulator for thickness change and higher air temperature resulted in RIT declining in autumn, while ice thickness decrease was mostly driven by warming in spring. However, neither air temperature nor snowfall is the primary control factor for declining RIT in winter, and further work needs to be done to detect the reason.

Green extractivism and financialisation in Mozambique: the case of Gilé National Reserve

ABSTRACT With the global environmental crisis intensifying, capitalism has extended the reach of financialisation through the creation of new financial assets that rely on further commodification of nature. Using the case of a national reserve in Mozambique, the paper examines the emergence of green extractivism as a consequence of deepening financialisation, an extractivism which is building on pre-existing relations of unequal and asymmetric exchange between industrialised and extractive economies. The article focuses on the linkages between financialisation and extractivism and nature-based financial mechanisms, whose operationalisation impacts on rural social reproduction. It is argued that the emergence of green extractivism, supported by green funds and loans, is intensifying the extractive character of the Mozambican economy. The case study shows, that with the support of philanthrocapitalism, the process of financialisation led by mature economies supports the appropriation of nature through green extractivist programmes in the periphery, with adverse implications for development and for rural subsistence.

Quantifying the nutritional and income loss caused by crop raiding in a rural African subsistence farming community in South Africa.

Globally, crop damage by wildlife contributes to food insecurity through the direct loss of food and income. We investigated the calories lost and the potential economic impact of crop raiding at subsistence homesteads abutting the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, and assessed mitigation measures to combat crop raiding. We quantified the seasonal loss of calories (kJ/g) of four common crops, namely, beetroot, common bean, maize, and spinach, and determined the seasonal potential income loss. We used a stratified sampling approach to sample the homesteads. We found that season, crop type and the interaction between season and crop type predicted relative calorie loss and potential income loss, with the highest income loss recorded for spinach in the dry season. Significant differences were found for the potential income loss for all crop types in the wet season, and for the interaction between the crop types (maize, spinach) and the wet season. Farm slope was also a significant predictor of the relative calorie loss. Crop raiding animals, crops raided and distance of farms from the reserve all had a significant effect on the choice of mitigation measures of farmers. The highest relative calorie loss was for maize during the dry season, which could affect the subsistence farmers by reducing their daily calorie intake. This has an impact on their food security, especially during the dry season. Moreover, the most preferred mitigation measure used by farmers can have opportunity costs. These results have important implications for food security policies and practices.

Ancient Maya Rural Settlement Patterns, Household Cooperation, and Regional Subsistence Interdependency in the Río Bec Area: Contributions from G-LiHT

Research on intensive agricultural features contributes to the social relations of farming, including the means by which farmers mobilize labor and the possible destination of surplus. Lidar provides high-resolution data on ancient houses and agricultural features at a regional scale. This paper uses lidar data from NASA’s G-LiHT airborne imager to derive insights about rural demography, interhousehold cooperation, and subsistence interdependency among the ancient Maya. We assess the differences in intensity of agricultural investment in rural and urban areas of the Río Bec region of southern Campeche and Quintana Roo, Mexico, leading to inferences about regional food exchange and complex economies. The scale of interconnected ridges and terraces clearly implies interhousehold cooperation, yet this cooperation was not centralized. Rather, we envision a landscape of smallholders who jointly planned the layout and articulation of agricultural features but pooled most of their labor at the level of the household.

Pesticides use and health impacts on farmers in Thailand, Vietnam, and Lao PDR: Protocol for a survey of knowledge, behaviours and blood acetyl cholinesterase concentrations.

Pesticides use in Southeast Asia has increased steadily, driven by the growth of large-scale commercial farming, as well as a desire to maximise food production in rural subsistence economies. Given that use of chemical pesticides, such as organophosphates and carbamates, has known potential health impacts, there are concerns about the safety of agricultural workers, and a need for a better evidence base to underpin regulation and worker education. This study, undertaken in 9 districts in Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, will interview agricultural workers to investigate how they use pesticides, their knowledge of risks and self-protective practices, and their self-reported illness symptoms. In each district researchers will recruit and interview 120 participants engaged in vegetable farming, who have recently used pesticides, making a total of 1080 subjects divided equally between the three study countries. Workers’ degree of pesticides exposure will be determined from acetyl cholinesterase concentrations in capillary blood samples collected using field test kits, and these data will be analysed together with the interview findings. Country findings will be compared and contrasted, and general patterns noted. Knowledge gained about risky behaviours, self-protective practices and degree of association with serious pesticides exposure will assist policy makers and inform health improvement programmes.

Culture and attitudes towards contraception of women in subsistence markets: the role of values and social axioms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of culture on attitudes to contraception by rural-based women in a developing economy.Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from 395 rural women in Eastern Zimbabwe, this study examines the hypothesized relationships between values (resultant conservation, resultant self-enhancement), social axioms (reward for application, social cynicism, religiosity, social complexity, fate control and Ubuntu) and contraceptive attitudes, considering the moderating effects of age and education.FindingsUsing covariance-based Structural Equation Modelling and Multi-Group Analysis, this study found that resultant self-enhancement, fate control, the reward for application and religiosity significantly relate to attitudes to contraception whilst resultant conservation, social complexity, Ubuntu and social cynicism, did not produce significant correlations. Age and education moderate the significant relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings suggest that contraception social marketers, non-governmental organizations and health practitioners should develop marketing strategies to neutralize the negative impact of these beliefs held by rural contraceptive consumers to increase contraceptive awareness and uptake in such subsistence markets. In addition, this study provides empirical evidence on the role of Ubuntu as a new culture construct in African markets.Originality/valueDespite being limited to a single developing economy, this paper extends prior research on consumer culture and attitudes on contraception use by exploring the role of values and social axioms, an imperative issue for rural women health and general subsistence market well-being.

Explaining the Effect of Crop-Raiding on Food Security of Subsistence Farmers of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Across the globe, crop-raiding has been known to have a significant impact on subsistence farmers livelihoods in developing countries. However, the relationship between crop-raiding and food security of small-scale farmers is not well-studied. We investigated the effects of crop-raiding on homestead food security of a subsistence farming community on the edge of the Hluhluwe Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. We analyzed the relative calories lost to important food security crops (maize, common bean, spinach, and beetroot) damage by crop raiders. In addition, we conducted questionnaire surveys of resident farmers and conservationists of the Hluhluwe Game Reserve to explain the effect of crop-raiding on food security. We firstly assessed how crop loss influenced relative calorie loss as an indicator of food security by comparing relative calorie loss with two predictors of food security: homestead size and contribution of crops to the farmers' food basket. Larger homesteads were more prone to food insecurity as compared to smaller households as they experienced higher calorie loss, especially in terms of maize (Zea mays), the most important food security crop in South Africa. This was because maize contributed the highest (91–100%) to the homestead food basket of these farmers. Secondly, we assessed farmers and conservationists' perceptions and opinions on crop-raiding issues. Farmers reported maize as the crop most damaged by crop-raiding animals. Conservationists reported crop-raiding with other major problems in and around the Reserve; this showed that conservationists acknowledge the issue of crop-raiding as a problem for subsistence farming communities abutting protected areas. Both farmers and conservationists reported insects as the most damaging crop raider. Our study suggests that larger homesteads, particularly where maize contributes substantially to homestead food baskets, are more prone to food insecurity in the rural subsistence farming community that we studied. In concordance with many studies, insects were reported as the culprits by both farmers and conservationists. Small, ubiquitous animals, such as insects are reported to cause much crop damage where they occur. The findings of our study suggest that the food security of the studied farmers is threatened by crop-raiding.

Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about rabies among the people in the community, healthcare professionals and veterinary practitioners in Bangladesh

It is crucial to explore knowledge, attitudes and perceptions (KAP) about rabies among the people in the community, the personnel dealing with animal bite management and suspected rabies patients, including humans and animals, to facilitate intervention in improving rabies elimination strategies. In 2016, we conducted an interactive face-to-face survey in three different districts of Bangladesh to understand the extent of KAP towards rabies in the community peoples (CPs), human healthcare professionals (HCPs) and veterinary practitioners (VPs). A set of prescribed questions was employed to measure what proportion of each group possessed sufficient knowledge, positive attitudes and adequate perceptions about rabies. A total of 1133 CPs, 211 HCPs and 168 VPs were interviewed by using a standard questionnaire comprising both closed and open-ended questions. Of the CPs, 49% identified the disease correctly (i.e. rabies is caused by an animal bite or a scratch). Only 29% of the CPs were aware that a wound should be washed immediately with soap and water after an animal bite or a scratch. However, only 49% of the CPs, 65% of the HCPs and 60% of the VPs felt that it is important to consult a physician and receive post-exposure vaccine as the first line of treatment following an animal exposure. Among the HCPs, 23% of the respondents did not possess sufficient knowledge about animal bites as categorised by the World Health Organization (WHO), and 12% of the respondents did not possess the knowledge on how to manage an animal bite properly. Out of 52% of the VPs who previously treated suspected rabid animals, only 29% had a history of taking rabies pre-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Lack of formal education and rural subsistence were found to largely contribute to poor rabies KAP level among the CPs (P ≤ 0.01). There has been a high demand for proper training to be provided to HCPs and VPs for the effective management of an animal bite incidence in human and animals, respectively. Multi-sectoral collaboration through integrated One Health initiatives including community education, awareness programmes, facilitation of rabies PEP, and dog vaccination as well as its population control are critical in the way forward to control rabies in Bangladesh.