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Childhood under‐nutrition remains a major health problem in resource‐poor settings like the rural areas in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to determine the types and nutrient adequacy of complementary foods used in a rural area.

The most frequently used (52 percent) homemade complementary food (HCF) in the area was studied, employing questionnaire, standardization of recipe and chemical analysis to evaluate the complementary food and to suggest improvement.

Two varieties of local beans (white and brown) were used in the preparation of HCF in the study area. They were either peeled to remove the coat or unpeeled. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in the protein content of the HCF made from the two varieties. Using any of the beans unpeeled children between the ages of six and eight months meet their energy and protein requirement. The calcium, iron, and zinc contents of HCF from the two bean varieties were low.

This paper may be the first to evaluate HCF using mothers' method of preparation.

The Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSHP) in Nigeria provides primary school pupils across the country with one meal daily. The purpose of this paper is to standardize the HGSHP meals in Osun State and determine the energy, protein and mineral contribution to the school children's daily nutrient intake.

All the HGSHP meals served school children were studied. Questionnaire, standardization of recipe and chemical analysis were employed to evaluate the HGSHP meals and to suggest improvement.

All the meals were cooked. Dishes composed of a mixture of a legume (cowpea) commonly called beans, a cereal (maize or rice) or tuber (yam) taken with a soup or stew and fish or egg. The bean meals were high in protein and carbohydrate. All the dishes had very low zinc content and did not meet 30 per cent of the school children's daily zinc requirements.

This paper may be the first to evaluate the nutritional contribution of school meals in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the difference in students’ preferences on weekly menu of school mid-day meal (MDM) program in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The study is based on primary structured questionnaire survey through personal interviews using multi-stage stratified sampling technique. This comprehensive survey covered 2,400 primary and upper primary students belonging to eight districts of Uttar Pradesh – Allahabad, Balrampur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Hathras, Kanpur Nagar, Mathura, Shahjahanpur and Varanasi. A total of 60 schools have been selected from each district, covering a total of 480 primary and upper primary schools. Simple statistical tools have been used to analyze the surveyed data such as cross-tabulation, percentage distribution and rank analysis. Further, six research hypotheses have been formulated to analyze the difference in school meal menu preferences among the students and χ2-statistics has been used to test the significance level of these hypotheses.

Survey results indicate that more than 90 percent students eat MDM in the school as per the weekly menu. Result of χ2-test indicates that choices on school meal menu among the students differ significantly across weekdays. Rice-pulses or rice-sambar served on Tuesday is reported to be the first preferred food of children given first preference by around 30 percent, followed by kadi-rice or kheer which is served on Wednesday. The results of χ2-tests exhibited a significant difference on weekly menu choices by gender, kitchen types, rural and urban locations and geographical regions. About 27 percent of the students reported that they want to have a change in the menu. When further probed about the kind of changes desired in the menu, puri-vegetables was found to be the most preferred choice of the respondents, beside halwa/kheer and rice with pulses/vegetables/kadi being the next preferred choices.

The present study provides managerial implications to the policy makers and scheme/program implementers for better understanding of the students’ preferences on school MDM weekly menu.

There are several evaluation studies undertaken by various agencies to assess the impact of MDM program on school attendance, retention and nutritional status of children. However, there are limited numbers of studies available, which have measured the students’ preferences on school MDM menu.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences in pupils’ satisfaction on various aspects of mid-day meal (MDM) program in India across food catered by centralized and decentralized kitchens.

The study is based on structured questionnaire survey through personal interviews of 1,200 school children of primary and upper primary schools of four districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Simple statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, factor analysis, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been used for meaningful data analysis.

Pupils’ responses on 17 attributes of their satisfaction on school meal program were reduced to four components − quality of food, social bonding, health and hygiene and availability of support infrastructure, using factor analysis technique. Findings show the perceived differences in satisfaction on various aspects of MDM program. Further, ANOVA indicate that there is significant difference in the satisfaction level on MDM supplied through centralized and decentralized kitchens.

This study provides an understanding of pupils’ perceptions of school meal program in order to enable policy makers, school administration and caterers of MDM to design better food service delivery models.

Findings of the study clearly indicate that benefit of social bonding is an added advantage to continue the school meal program irrespective of the fact whether food is served through centralized or decentralized kitchens.

There are several evaluation studies undertaken by various agencies to assess the impact of MDM program in India. However, there are only limited numbers of studies available, which have analyzed the children’s satisfaction on school MDM program across kitchen types.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the association between farm/farmer characteristics and unsubsidized farm insurance premium expenditure in Ireland. The distribution of farm insurance expenditures is wide, and it is important to understand the extent to which individual factors influence demand for different levels of insurance premium.

The quantile regression approach and farm accountancy data from the Teagasc National Farm Survey are used to model the association between farm/farmer characteristics and farm insurance demand in Ireland.

Asset values (livestock, buildings and machinery) are positively associated with total insurance expenditure. Both forestry area and crop area are significantly associated with farm insurance expenditure with a stronger influence on the middle and upper part of the distribution. The interaction between farm income and farmer age is positively associated with insurance expenditure pointing to the importance of farm income protection.

The research is mainly concerned with insuring against substantive risks, which are capable of threatening the asset base and continuation of the farm business. Future research can integrate questions in relation to farm safety and farmer health with research on the economic survival of the farm business.

Farmers in Ireland adopt unsubsidized farm insurance as a risk management tool. This situation is relevant to other EU member states including Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. The findings can be used to inform stakeholders and policymakers about the relative impact of different factors on insurance expenditure.

Previous research has typically focused on the linear relationship between farm/farmer characteristics and insurance demand without accounting for variability across the size distribution. This research is based on the quantile regression approach where the association between farm/farmer characteristics and farm insurance expenditure can be assessed at different points of the distribution.

Agriculture insurance is the panacea for the farming community. Many policy interventions were implemented for stimulating agriculture insurance access to farmers in India. However, access to agriculture insurance constantly remained one of the major challenges to Indian policy planners. The goal of the present paper is to explore current policy interventions in the area of agriculture insurance in India.

The present paper reviews and analyzes the evidence literature through a content analysis method on development and performance analysis perspective of existing agriculture insurance schemes in India.

Agriculture insurance is a significant risk management policy, but this is not easily reachable to the majority of farmers in India. The government of India introduces a novel agriculture scheme every decade, but every crop insurance scheme was inconsistent and ineffective owing to operational defects. Agriculture insurance in India is still developing in terms of coverage, scope, and exposure, but farmers' dissatisfaction about agriculture insurance turned out to be a negative word of mouth. Insurance illiteracy and farmers' preference for agriculture relief payments are the main reasons for limited access to agriculture insurance. The current crop insurance schemes are improperly operated because of implementation issues at the state level.

This paper will be useful for researchers and academicians to analyze the past and present status of crop insurance in India.

The paper is the unique work of the authors as it has attempted to present India's journey with agriculture insurance. An effort is made in the present study to provide a comprehensive and holistic developmental and performance analysis perspective of agriculture insurance in India.

This paper aims to take a critical review of traditional fish processing in Nigeria.

A critical review of traditional fish processing in Nigeria was undertaken.

Fish is one of the protein foods that need careful handling. Due to poor handling, about 30-50 per cent of fish harvested are wasted in Nigeria. This study was therefore carried out to review fish processing technologies and evaluate the effectiveness, energy sources and efficiency of fish processing equipment used, quality and safety of processed fish products and possible improvement. Studies revealed that the fish when brought aboard is usually more or less alive, stored simply on the bottom of the canoe and lying there in a pool of warm, dirty water. The fish is never gutted and freely exposed to the sun, and better handling practices would help in developing a fresh fish export trade toward the larger towns in the north and south. Several studies revealed that fish smoking still remains the main method of fish preservation in Nigeria as over 70 per cent of the catch is smoked. The quality of smoked fish from Nigeria has been found to be within acceptable quality limits specific by various regulatory agencies. However, findings have revealed microbial contamination and the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in some of the smoked fish which values exceed the EU recommended maximum permissible level of 5.0 μg/kg for benzo[α]pyrene.

Few available literatures on the subject matter were critically reviewed.

The paper helps in creating opportunities for more in-depth research in fish processing in Nigeria.

This research is of value to the researchers in Nigeria and other tropical countries.

There are no adequate records on the nutrition of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. This paper aims to rectify this.

Purposive sampling technique was used to select 200 PLWHA respondents at the Federal Medical Center Idiaba, Abeokuta. A pre‐tested questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects’ socio‐demographic characteristics and health status of respondents. A three day 24‐hour recall was used to assess the food intake of the subjects. Adequacy of nutrient intake was assessed as a percentage of the recommended dietary allowance. Packed cell volume (PCV) estimation was investigated using a sub‐sample of 100 respondents.

The values obtained were compared with WHO/UNICEF/UNU reference values. The mean PCV for the 33 men was 31.9±6.62 while the mean value for the remaining 67 females was 29.4±4.87, which was below the reference values. A positive correlation was obtained between the PCV and energy intake (r=0.528, 33; p<0.01) as well as serum iron (r=0.474; p<0.01).

This study suggests that a healthy diet that is adequate in terms of energy, protein, fat, and other essential nutrients should be promoted in Nigeria as a key component of positive living for people with HIV.

This paper may be the first to evaluate the nutrient intake and health status of HIV/AIDS patients in Abeokuta, Nigeria