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Inadequate nutrient intakes are prevalent among many populations in sub‐Saharan Africa and increasing fish consumption among pregnant/lactating women and children is one strategy to improve diets and address nutrient deficiencies. We report the nutrient content of two fish‐based recipes—fish powder and fish chutney—that contain dried small fish available in local markets in Zambia. The contribution of a serving of each recipe to the recommended daily intakes of iron, zinc, calcium and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for pregnant/lactating women and children 6–24 months was calculated because these nutrients are commonly deficient in African diets. We found that one 10‐g serving of fish powder provides 20% or more of the daily calcium recommendation and 37% or more of the daily DHA recommendation for both pregnant/lactating women and children. A 30‐g serving of fish chutney provides over 40% of the daily calcium recommendation for pregnant women and over 50% for lactating women. Additionally, we investigated the nutrient density (nutrients per kilocalorie) of the fish powder and compared it with the nutrient density of a small‐quantity lipid‐based nutrient supplement plus (SQ‐LNS‐plus). SQ‐LNS‐plus is designed to enhance children's diets by providing micronutrients and DHA. Fish powder is similar to SQ‐LNS‐plus in iron and zinc density and even higher in calcium and DHA density. Consuming dried small fish as part of a daily meal can be a viable strategy for combatting nutrient deficiencies in the first 1000 days.

Agri-food system integration has the potential to increase and add value to agricultural production, reduce cost of and dependency on external inputs, generate additional income to farmers, and encourage the diversification of outputs and diets. Agri-food system integrations such as livestock-fish, poultry-fish, crop-livestock and rice-fish farming have been well documented in academic literature. However, information on fish and root, tuber and banana (RTB) crops integration is scarcely available, despite their worldwide cultural, dietary, and economic importance. This article, which is informed by a narrative literature review and ground-truthing through key informant interviews, documents existing linkages between two agri-food systems – fish and RTB – and identifies opportunities and challenges for strengthening their integration. We found that recorded instances of fish-RTB integration are limited and predominantly discuss production-related activities. Nevertheless, initial evidence suggests that there are important livelihood-enhancing opportunities as well as environmental, nutrition and food-security related benefits, which need to be considered. These include the potential to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable populations and lower the cost of fish production and thus improve the livelihoods of small-scale fish farmers. Further field-based research is recommended to explore these outcomes in more detail.

Ugandan smallholder farmers need to feed a growing population, but their efforts are hampered by declining soil fertility rates. Agricultural extension can facilitate farmers’ access to new practices and technologies, yet farmers are understandably often hesitant to adopt new behaviors. New knowledge assimilation is an important component of behavior change that is often overlooked or poorly addressed by current extension efforts. We implemented a Fertility Management Education Program (FMEP) in central Uganda to investigate smallholder farmers’ existing soil knowledge and their assimilation of new scientific concepts into their knowledge framework. Qualitative data were collected through participant observation, farmer interviews, and focus groups, and coded for using a priori and emergent themes. Our exploration revealed some notable similarities between farmers’ soil knowledge and scientific concepts, particularly in regards to soil health concepts, a discovery that could facilitate communication between extension agents and farmers. However, certain scientific concepts are either unknown to farmers or discordant with existing soil knowledge; these concepts are unlikely to be assimilated by farmers without convincing and concerted extension efforts. Importantly, we found that the combination of new scientific knowledge and hands-on experimentation with novel practices gave farmers far greater confidence in implementing improved soil management practices. Our study provides evidence that extension programs should engage directly with farmers’ existing soil knowledge to develop their understanding of key biological concepts and confidence in implementing improved practices.

Aquatic foods, including fish, are a substantial component of animal source foods globally, and make a critical nutritional contribution to diets in many contexts. In the global North, concern among consumers and regulators over the safety and environmental sustainability of seafood, particularly in developed nations, has led to the development of increasingly stringent seafood safety standards. While such standards may constitute regularity, logistical, and economic barriers to participation in export markets by small-scale producers, they have in other contexts catalysed upgrades to production and post-harvest handling practices within value chains associated with both capture fisheries and aquaculture. The health burden of foodborne illnesses is a major concern in developing countries. As incomes rise, consumers in developing countries are increasingly willing to pay a premium for safer and environmentally sustainable foods. However, there is little empirical evidence on consumers' willingness to pay for seafood safety in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Data on demand for seafood safety and environmental sustainability certification in African countries are largely unavailable in the public domain. In this paper, we describe data collected in Lagos State, Nigeria in October and November 2019. Experiments in the form of Becker-DeGroote-Marschak (BDM) auction mechanism, and post experiment surveys were conducted with 200 fish consumers in fish markets. These data can be used to assess whether consumers' demand for safe and healthy seafood from local markets can be harnessed to generate positive economic returns to producers. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.