Summaryobjective To develop and test a robust clinical staging system for podoconiosis, a geochemical disease in individuals exposed to red clay soil.methods We adapted the Dreyer system for staging filarial lymphoedema and tested it in four re-iterative field tests conducted in an area of high-podoconiosis prevalence in Southern Ethiopia. The system has five stages according to proximal spread of disease and presence of dermal nodules, ridges and bands.We measured the 1-week repeatability and the inter-observer agreement of the final staging system.results The five-stage system is readily understood by community workers with little health training. Kappa for 1-week repeatability was 0.88 (95% CI 0.80-0.96), for agreement between health professionals was 0.71 (95% CI 0.60-0.82), while that between health professionals and community podoconiosis agents without formal health training averaged 0.64 (95% CI 0.52-0.78).conclusions This simple staging system with good inter-observer agreement and repeatability can assist in the management and further study of podoconiosis.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and its population experiences low and falling life expectancy rates, high infant, child and maternal mortality and high rates of child malnutrition. This is exacerbated by the fact that Ethiopia is not self-sufficient in animal products and is a net importer of food. For the majority of the population, most food energy (93%) is derived from vegetable products with 7% coming from animal source foods (ASF). FARM-Africa hypothesizes that the inadequate nutritional status of the population, which contributes to the high mortality rates in the country, is related to the population's low consumption of ASF, such as milk and meat. This article presents the findings of the Dairy Goat Project, the objectives of which included the improvement of family welfare through the generation of increased income and milk consumption. The project adopted an integrated approach and increased the productivity of local goats managed by women through a combination of better management techniques, genetic improvements and information exchange. Through pre- and post-intervention analysis of data of those households within the project area, FARM-Africa demonstrated a considerable improvement in the nutritional status and family welfare of project participants. There was increased appearance of milk and meat products in local diets, and the addition of other foods, such as eggs and fresh vegetables, as a result of complementary activities established with funds generated through the principal activities of the Dairy Goat Project.

Generally, land fragmentation is a universal trait of all agricultural systems which affects farmland productivity and no one had documented a rural society where there was no land fragmentation. Hence, this study sought to ascertain the effects of land fragmentation on farmland productivity in the highland districts of Northwestern Ethiopia by using cross-sectional data collected from 240 respondents during 2015/16 production seasons and analyzed by using linear and Cobb-Douglass production functions. In land productivity model, 38% of variations in farmland productivity are explained by variations in independent variables including land fragmentation parameters. Average farmland size of 1.25 ha was obtained as minimum size that can generate minimum food and cash requirement of an average family of five adult equivalents. Hence, the government should come up with land use policy and population growth controlling program, which enables determining minimum economic farmland size, improving land productivity, and finding ways to strengthen off-farm activities and livestock sector to absorb more labor and enhance means of generating more income so as to decrease minimum farmland size required.