Sustainabilty of Rice Processing in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Energy and environmental sustainability are important considerations for increased rice production. This study examined the energy utilization and sustainability of rice processing in sub-Saharan Africa. The community of Gadan Loko village in the song local government of Adamawa State, Nigeria was selected as the focus of study. Rice parboiling, the most energy intensive process in rice processing is carried out usually by women in small quantities of about 13.2 kg using traditional pots on tripod support stoves. The parboiled rice is sun dried on mats before it is taken to the milling stalls where it is milled using milling machines driven by single cylinder diesel engines. There were large variations in the quality of milled rice due to lack of consistency in processing parameters. Accumulation of rice husk in the community created important environmental issues. In this study, methods of improving sustainability of rice processing were investigated. The areas included： the utilization of waste heat from the diesel engines for improved drying and efficient pre-soaking; the utilization of solar energy for pre-soaking; the utilization of rice husks as alternative fuel to firewood; and the optimization and redesign of the stoves and parboiling vessels to minimize heat loss to the environment. The results showed that the utilization of rice husk as alternative fuel and the redesign of the stoves and parboiling vessels will increase the sustainability of rice processing and can be easily adopted by the community. While solar energy pre-soaking was not economical and the utilization of waste heat from the diesel engines for drying and pre-soaking would be difficult to implement at the rural scale, because most of the parboiling is done far away from the milling stalls. The study showed that research, development of appropriate technology, and education （RATE） of the rural community is an important way of increasing sustainability.

Impact of Village-based Health Education of Tobacco Control on the Current Smoking Rate in Chinese Rural Areas

The number of smokers in Chinese rural areas is more than 200 million, which is twice that in cities. It is very significant to carry out tobacco control interventions in rural areas. We performed this community intervention study to evaluate the efficacy of village-based health education of tobacco control on the male current smoking rate in rural areas. The population of this study was the males above 15 years old from 6 villages in rural areas. The villages were randomly assigned to intervention group or control group（3 villages in each group）. Self-designed smoking questionnaire was applied. The intervention group received the village-based health education of tobacco control for one year. The primary outcome measurement was the male current smoking rate. In the baseline investigation, completed surveys were returned by 814 male residents from the control group and 831 male residents from the intervention group. The male current smoking rate in the control group and the intervention group was 61.2% and 58.5%, respectively, before intervention. There was no significant difference between these two groups（P〉0.05）. After one-year intervention, the current smoking rate in the intervention group（51.2%） was significantly lower than that in the control group（62.8%）（P〈0.001）. Our study suggested that the village-based health education of tobacco control was effective in lowering the male current smoking rate in rural areas, which could be a suitable and feasible way for tobacco control in the Chinese rural areas.

Factors Influencing Migrant Workers’ Employment and Earnings——The Role of Education and Training

In the urban labor market, the rural labor force can choose whether to become self- employed or work for wages depending on their stock of human capital and local labor market conditions. A simple Mincer earnings regression shows that the rate of return to schooling for wage earners is two percentage points higher than that for the self-employed. After correcting for bias in sample selection, the expanded Mincer earnings equation estimated the rate of return to schooling for wage earners at between 5.3 and 6.8 percent. From the standpoint of training, we found that the simplest form of training, short-term training and formal training played an important role in promoting migrant workers’ repeat mobility. However, the simplest form of training did not have a significant effect on earnings,whereas short-term and formal training played an important determining role in this respect. Moreover, rights protection issues such as wage arrears also had an important effect on migrant workers’ repeat mobility. In handling heterogeneity and endogenous educational variables among migrant workers, the authors found that the years of schooling of the parents of migrant workers were not an ideal instrumental variable.