This study assessed caregivers' knowledge and practices and factors that influence the adoption of improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices after nutrition education in Kasungu and Mzimba districts among 198 caregivers. Mixed-methods convergent-parallel design, including knowledge tests, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews in the intervention areas, was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Data were analyzed using count regression and content analysis, which showed that knowledge increased among caregivers after nutrition education. The knowledge about diet diversification for young children as well as about hygienic practices when preparing food and during feeding improved in addition. Enhanced health among children motivated caregivers to apply improved IYCF practices. The study was based on the caregivers' reports. Long-term effects of exposure to nutrition education are unknown. However, the nutrition education that focused on the child's health benefits motivated mothers to adopt improved IYCF practices.

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This article addresses the reliability and validity of household welfare rankings using the Group Ratings (GR) method. The GR aimed to measure the food security status of 142 households in seven villages in Malawi. Sets of informant groups rated households from their own community. Results show that the reliability of the method was no more than fair to moderate, and was particularly low for households falling in the middle category of 'intermittently food insecure'. Consensus ratings from the GR sessions were then compared with a number of alternative indicators of food security from a quantitative household survey. GR were associated with the more visible aspects of food security, such as household asset and livestock holdings, but associations with less visible aspects of food security were weaker. The strength of these associations varied from village to village.

The use of contract farming, which constitutes a subject of current debates, especially on the issue of whether or not participating farmers improve their welfare and thus contribute to the local economy as an agricultural intervention is being adopted by many African countries including Mozambique. The Mozambique government adopted contract farming which is being implemented in the central region, mainly involving production of cash crops (Tobacco, cotton and sugarcane) using smallholder farmers. To this end, this study was carried out to assess the effect of contract tobacco farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers in the district of Angonia in Mozambique. Data were collected using questionnaire from 359 randomly selected farmers. Checklists with 27 focus group discussions, 67 key informants' interviews were also used. The results show that some farmers are able to improve their welfare as a result of their participation in contract farming. Although farmers are motivated by income generation, the contractor offers low prices which result in low returns and debts accumulation by farmers. Considering these, the study concludes that contract tobacco farming is dysfunctional, as it fails to improve the welfare of farmers. The findings of this study offer guidance on how contract farming should be organised so that both parties involved in contract can benefit and improve the chance of a win-win situation. The study further generates useful information that evaluates the subsector in terms of its contributions to the local economy.

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