Agroecological producers shortening food chains during Covid-19: opportunities and challenges in Costa Rica

The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the global food insecurity crisis, disproportionately affecting the consumers, farmers, and food workers (UN in Policy brief: impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_food_security.pdf). The significant disruptions caused by Covid-19 have called international attention to food security and sparked conversations about how to better support food production and trade. Our paper contributes to a small but growing literature on the impacts and responses of agroecological farmers to Covid-19 in Costa Rica. Specifically, we interviewed 30 agroecological farmers about (1) livelihood disruptions during Covid-19, (2) the areas of food production and sales most affected during this pandemic, and (3) how farmers and consumers are adapting during this crisis. Our findings reveal multiple impacts on agroecological farmers including: economic hardships of lower incomes and inability to pay loans, changes in purchasing and consumption patterns, market disruptions, changes in sales, a decrease in agrotourism, and a shortage of farmworkers. Furthermore, we also report the following farmer adaptation strategies: (1) minimizing distance with consumers to facilitate direct delivery, (2) establishing e-commerce platforms. Based on our findings, we recommend the following: (1) building farmer networks for knowledge sharing, (2) increasing technological support for farmers, and (3) providing government support to ensure that such crises do not increase unemployment among farmers and exacerbate food insecurity.

Emergency Presentation of Groin Hernia: Severity and Outcomes of Treatment in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Complications arising from groin hernias carry significant risks that task the resources of the surgeon and patient and, whenever feasible, should be avoided. In the past, obstructed groin hernia was the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in many parts of tropical Africa, but the trend appears to be changing. The aim of this study was to determine the severity and operative outcomes of complicated groin hernias in our centre.

DESIGN

Aseven-year retrospective study.

SUBJECTS

Records of adult patients with groin hernias, managed surgically for complicated groin hernias from January 2012 to December 2018 were retrieved and evaluated.

RESULTS

A total of 387 patients were evaluated representing 18.3% of the entire groin hernias repaired surgically during the study period. Inguinal hernias accounted for 88.4% while femoral hernias represented 11.6%. Majority (76.5%) resided in a rural area. Twenty six (6.7%) patients presented with bilateral hernias (all were inguinal), but none had complications in both groins simultaneously. Twenty-one (5.4%) patients had spontaneous reduction, and of these, 13 (61.9%) received mesh implants. Overall, 6.2% were incarcerated, 56.8% were obstructed while the remaining 37.0% were strangulated. The resection rate was 29.5% for emergency repairs; 60.2% of the resections were performed in those who delayed beyond 72hours before presentation. The overall morbidity and mortality rates were 40.7% and 10.4% respectively.

CONCLUSION

Late presentation is very common among patients with complicated inguinal hernia in our centre. Subsequently, bowel resection, morbidity and mortality rates are increased in proportion to the length of delay and degree of bowel and systemic involvements.

Scaling of stem diameter and height allometry in 14 neotropical palm species of different forest strata

Tropical palms reach tree-like heights without a vascular cambium through sustained cell expansion and lignification of primary tissues, but only a fraction of palms have been explored in their allometric relationships. Here, our main question was to determine how palms depart from the traditional mechanical models developed for trees and how they approach the theoretical buckling limit. We analyzed the stem allometry of 1603 palms of 14 species from different strata at 10 sites in Costa Rica and Peru. We measured their fit to the stress, elastic, and geometric similarity models, and their position relative to the maximum theoretical buckling limit calculated for trees. We evaluated the slope of the linear and logarithmic regressions between stem diameter and height using logarithmic least squares, and standardized major axis regression (SMA), expecting segregation according to canopy position and geographic location. Seventeen out of 19 statistically significant models had SMA slopes > 1, and 11 had SMA slopes ≥ 2, departing from traditional mechanical models developed for trees. Many species varied their allometry relative to geographic location. Canopy palms showed the highest regression fit but had less steep slopes than understory and subcanopy species. Subcanopy and understory species were more underbuilt than canopy palms, increasing height faster than diameter. Some of the tallest canopy palms surpassed the maximum buckling limit whereas subcanopy and understory species were consistently below the buckling limit of record-size trees. Palm stem allometry changed in response to environmental conditions.

Influence of light conditions on the allometry and growth of the understory palm Geonoma undata subsp. edulis (Arecaceae) of neotropical cloud forests

PREMISE OF THE STUDY

Knowledge on the growth responses of understory palms to changing light conditions within neotropical cloud forests is limited. The low light regime of these environments, in addition to persistent cloudiness, low ambient temperatures, and slow nutrient cycles, imposes significant constraints on biomass accumulation. Here, we evaluate how changes in the understory light conditions influenced the allometry and growth of G. undata subsp. edulis in two cloud forests in Costa Rica.

METHODS

We examined the structural relationships between stem diameter, stem height, and crown area in reproductive and nonreproductive individuals. We related the variation in stem growth and crown area with allometry, leaf production and longevity, and light conditions that we measured using hemispherical photographs over 1 year.

KEY RESULTS

The allometric and growth pattern of G. undata subsp. edulis was characterized by its investment in crown area, which was strongly and positively related to increments in palm height and reproduction. Growth, measured as the increase in crown area and stem height, was not explained by the variation in the light regime spanning 1 year. However, reproductive individuals were generally taller, more slender, and had larger leaf areas than nonreproductive individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrated that stem growth responses were mostly controlled by initial crown size rather than by temporal differences in the understory light regimes of cloud forests. These results suggest that cloud forest understory palms have a limited capacity to respond to light changes and rely mostly on an opportunistic strategy for biomass accumulation and reproduction.