Godswill Makombe - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Godswill Makombe
New Advances in Postharvest Technology [Working Title]
Storage is a crucial link in the food supply chain. It helps to even-out fluctuations in food dem... more Storage is a crucial link in the food supply chain. It helps to even-out fluctuations in food demand and supply. This ensures food availability during the lean periods. Despite the immense contribution of storage, a knowledge gap exists on the storage types used by smallholder maize farmers, how they are acquired, used, and their cost in Uganda. Storage affects the social and economic well-being of smallholder maize farmers. In this study, smallholder maize farmers in three districts of eastern Uganda (Iganga, Manafwa, and Katakwi) were interviewed during the maize storage season of 2014/2015. The aim was to: describe the different storage types; find out how they were acquired and used; the length of storage and the cost. The findings show that sacks were the most used storage type. Storage types were acquired through purchase; however, some were constructed by the smallholder maize farmers. Affordability and accessibility determined the storage type used. Some storage types were n...
Local Economy, Mar 1, 2023
Tourism is used as a community development tool. It has been incorporated into national developme... more Tourism is used as a community development tool. It has been incorporated into national development plans. In South Africa, it is incorporated into local economic development (LED) plans. The LED strategy for the City of Mbombela Local Municipality includes the development of a tourism route in the former Umjindi Local Municipality. Through the application of the descriptive research design, we use the Likert scale to investigate perceptions of the community around the area where the tourism route is proposed. A sampling frame was developed by listing all the 224 households who live in the section of the road covered by the tourism route. From the 224 households in the sampling frame, a simple random sample of 89 households was drawn using the SPSS random number generator. A structured questionnaire was used to solicit the perceptions of respondents concerning the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and infrastructural attributes of the tourism route. Although they need to be interpreted directionally, most of the economic, socio-cultural and environmental attributes were significant. Of the infrastructure attributes electricity and water supply were significant. Generally, respondents had positive perceptions of the tourism route. Therefore, we strongly recommend the development of the tourism route with the caveat that sustainability issues need to be paid attention to.
Journal of Economics Bibliography, Mar 4, 2017
Natural resource redistribution and ownership transfer programs are introduced as a way of improv... more Natural resource redistribution and ownership transfer programs are introduced as a way of improving income distribution and alleviating poverty in rural areas of most developing countries. In the case of South Africa, these redistributive policies are implemented in line with the national development plan targeting extreme poverty alleviation and reduction of wide income disparities by 2030. This paper analyses the distributive effects of the land redistribution policy which is a shock in the agriculture sector on poor household income in South Africa by applying a multiplier decomposition and structural path analysis. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing a microscopic analysis of the global multiplier to show the transmission mechanism of household income from a shock into the agriculture sector and show how income moves across sectors, factors and households by dividing the multiplier effects into all its components. The results showed that poor households received higher direct effects and the rich households received high indirect effects from the shock in the agricultural sector. The structural path shows that a significant portion of the global influence of the shock in agriculture is transmitted through the path of factor income which in turn increases poor household income.
Environmental and sustainability indicators, Dec 1, 2020
The sustainability of low-input ruminant farming systems remains poorly understood and evaluation... more The sustainability of low-input ruminant farming systems remains poorly understood and evaluation frameworks that adequately capture their complexity are lacking. The multiple goals of producers, multipurpose roles of ruminants, animal welfare issues, credence goods and services of the system are omitted in existing frameworks. In that context, development of a novel comprehensive framework for evaluating the sustainability of the low-put ruminant farming system is important. The current manuscript, therefore, provides an overview of a systemic process for developing a participatory and interdisciplinary methodological framework to measure sustainability of the low-input ruminant farming system. The proposed framework provides guidance on potentially relevant variables and their subcomponents, and for designing appropriate data collection tools, conducting field measurements and analysing results. The suggested framework captures the complex interrelationships within and between dimensions and indicators of sustainability and apply a system dynamics approach to integrate the indicators into an overall measure of the sustainability of a system.
Water International, Mar 1, 1999
Zimbabwe's economy is based on agriculture. The government of Zimbabwe empha... more Zimbabwe's economy is based on agriculture. The government of Zimbabwe emphasizes the development of the agricultural sector as one of the means to achieve economic development. One of the strategies used for agricultural development is the development of the small holder irrigation sector. The small holder irrigation sector consists of the formal Agritex systems (government-managed), community systems (farmer-managed), and the
Agroecology and sustainable food systems, Jan 23, 2020
Frontiers in sustainable food systems, Dec 1, 2022
Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employmen... more Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employment in rural communities of South Africa. However, despite the revitalization and rehabilitation of SIS by the government, the performance of farmers is still below par. This study evaluates the performance of water-users across four SIS in KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN). Technical E ciency was used as a proxy for performance and the Stochastic Meta-Frontier Analysis method was employed to measure the overall e ciency across households. The e ciency model results showed that governance index, psychological capital, land tenure security, credit access and gender a ect water-users' technical e ciency. The study concludes that interventions should be geared toward strengthening institutions and the empowerment of farmers through relevant training and access to credit. Furthermore, adequacy of water and its availability in the schemes should be improved to ensure profitability and productivity of water.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
Resolution of the existing disconnect between experts and farmers' insights on sustainable farmin... more Resolution of the existing disconnect between experts and farmers' insights on sustainable farming requires understanding of the key factors driving farmers' perceptions on the concept. Interviews were conducted with 160 low-input farmers to evaluate the drivers of their perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was found that farmers had negative perceptions on rangeland, breeding, livestock security and marketing management practices and positive perceptions on socio-cultural, family health and education practices. The major factors that influenced farmers' perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices include location, age, gender and employment status. Males farming full-time in peri-urban areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) while the young farmers had greater probability to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in ecologically related ruminant farming practices. Married, more educated males farming full-time in rural areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) in economically related ruminant farming practices compared to their counterparts. Young males farming full-time had greater probability to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05), whereas rural farmers were more likely to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in socially related ruminant farming practices. These key drivers of farmer's perceptions could be used to develop context-specific indicators for sustainability assessment and synchronise experts and farmers insights on sustainable ruminant farming.
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employmen... more Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employment in rural communities of South Africa. However, despite the revitalization and rehabilitation of SIS by the government, the performance of farmers is still below par. This study evaluates the performance of water-users across four SIS in KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN). Technical Efficiency was used as a proxy for performance and the Stochastic Meta-Frontier Analysis method was employed to measure the overall efficiency across 306 households. The efficiency model results showed that governance index, psychological capital, land tenure security, credit access and gender affect water-users' technical efficiency. The study concludes that interventions should be geared toward strengthening institutions and the empowerment of farmers through relevant training and access to credit. Furthermore, adequacy of water and its availability in the schemes should be improved to ensure profitability a...
A research paper on perfomance of irrigation-based agro projects of small holder rural producers.
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 2018
Despite more than two decades of implementation, land reform in South Africa remains a hotly cont... more Despite more than two decades of implementation, land reform in South Africa remains a hotly contested terrain that is beset with numerous challenges and uncertainties. One of the main goals of the programme was to transfer land from the predominantly white commercial farmers to a cohort of black small-scale commercial farmers who would productively utilize the farms using irrigation and actively contribute to the local and national agricultural value-chains (Anseeuw and Mathebula, 2008). However, since the mid-1990s when the reforms were introduced, South Africa has struggled to attain the main performance targets set for the reform program and its contribution to the livelihoods of the targeted beneficiaries remains debatable (Mngxitama, 2006; Ntsebeza, 2007; Mpehle, 2012). The land reform process in the country is constituted by three main pillars, namely, restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform. The main objective of the restitution pillar is to return land or provide compensation to black communities who were dispossessed of their land by the apartheid regime. In this regard, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides that persons or communities who were dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices are entitled to restoration of that property or to equitable redress. The redistribution pillar seeks to transfer land from white commercial farmers to blacks who have no land or have inadequate access to land, thereby increasing black ownership of commercial farming land in rural areas. This is provided for in Section 25(5) of the South African Constitution, which states that "the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis." The tenure reform pillar seeks to improve the tenure security of former commercial farming workers who have remained on the land that has been redistributed.
Information Development, 2021
The transformation of smallholder farming is poised to be one of the key drivers of achieving the... more The transformation of smallholder farming is poised to be one of the key drivers of achieving the dual objectives of food security and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Smallholder farmers account for between 60–80% of the food produced in the region but face many challenges that impede their productivity. Such challenges include a lack of timely access to appropriate agricultural information and services, which results in poor decision-making, particularly in addressing challenges and responding effectively to opportunities. In that context, the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in improving accessibility to appropriate agricultural information and services presents substantial prospects for transforming the productivity and livelihoods of the farmers. Currently, the region experiences massive penetration and propagation of mobile and web-based applications. However, there is a dearth of compelling, comprehensive reviews evaluating thei...
The contents covered hereunder are in reference to the agreement between ILRI and IWMI for collab... more The contents covered hereunder are in reference to the agreement between ILRI and IWMI for collaborative work on the CIDA-supported ongoing project on Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS). This document encompasses the findings ...
A study of irrigation systems in Zimbabwe. Proceedings of two workshops held in Harare and Julias... more A study of irrigation systems in Zimbabwe. Proceedings of two workshops held in Harare and Juliasdale, Zimbabwe, 3 - 6 August, 1993.
Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2021
Participatory Irrigation Management is an important concept in the management of water resources.... more Participatory Irrigation Management is an important concept in the management of water resources. It fosters collective responsibility and rule compliance, the lack of which creates a weak environment for sustainable water use. This study adopted Principal Components Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the determinants of farmer’s participation in the management of four smallholder irrigations schemes in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The selected schemes, Ndumo, Makhathini Flats, Mooi River and Tugela Ferry, are representative of the general management and farmer activities in smallholder irrigation schemes in the country. The study considered household data from 341 irrigators and found that those who participated in regulation and control management activities of SIS also participate in information sharing activities. The results show that agricultural training, land tenure security, credit access and co-operative membership positively influence farmers’...
This paper examines the institutional arrangements that facilitate irrigation management and the ... more This paper examines the institutional arrangements that facilitate irrigation management and the present state of irrigation management and establishes where problems have occurred in the operation of Gibe-Lemu and Gambela-Terre Small-scale irrigation systems. The study employed the case study approach to tackle the research. Key informant and expert interview, desk review of different documents produced about the projects, group discussion, direct observation and structured interview schedule were used to collect data. The study proved the proposition that the government has uncritically supported the irrigation systems. Enabling legal system of land and water rights, strong woreda level state irrigation agency, support services (irrigation extension) and wellestablished water users associations through which purposes of irrigation are achieved were not adequately planned and put in place. These shortcomings undermined irrigation management, ultimately risked feasibility and sustai...
Saharan Africa, in general. IWMI is also grateful to officials of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water... more Saharan Africa, in general. IWMI is also grateful to officials of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) for providing information and feedback. A number of officials from regional governments also took a lot of time to provide information and we are grateful to all of them. We are grateful for all the input and assistance provided, by the various individuals and organizations, in compiling this report. However, the authors remain responsible for the contents of this paper.
New Advances in Postharvest Technology [Working Title]
Storage is a crucial link in the food supply chain. It helps to even-out fluctuations in food dem... more Storage is a crucial link in the food supply chain. It helps to even-out fluctuations in food demand and supply. This ensures food availability during the lean periods. Despite the immense contribution of storage, a knowledge gap exists on the storage types used by smallholder maize farmers, how they are acquired, used, and their cost in Uganda. Storage affects the social and economic well-being of smallholder maize farmers. In this study, smallholder maize farmers in three districts of eastern Uganda (Iganga, Manafwa, and Katakwi) were interviewed during the maize storage season of 2014/2015. The aim was to: describe the different storage types; find out how they were acquired and used; the length of storage and the cost. The findings show that sacks were the most used storage type. Storage types were acquired through purchase; however, some were constructed by the smallholder maize farmers. Affordability and accessibility determined the storage type used. Some storage types were n...
Local Economy, Mar 1, 2023
Tourism is used as a community development tool. It has been incorporated into national developme... more Tourism is used as a community development tool. It has been incorporated into national development plans. In South Africa, it is incorporated into local economic development (LED) plans. The LED strategy for the City of Mbombela Local Municipality includes the development of a tourism route in the former Umjindi Local Municipality. Through the application of the descriptive research design, we use the Likert scale to investigate perceptions of the community around the area where the tourism route is proposed. A sampling frame was developed by listing all the 224 households who live in the section of the road covered by the tourism route. From the 224 households in the sampling frame, a simple random sample of 89 households was drawn using the SPSS random number generator. A structured questionnaire was used to solicit the perceptions of respondents concerning the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and infrastructural attributes of the tourism route. Although they need to be interpreted directionally, most of the economic, socio-cultural and environmental attributes were significant. Of the infrastructure attributes electricity and water supply were significant. Generally, respondents had positive perceptions of the tourism route. Therefore, we strongly recommend the development of the tourism route with the caveat that sustainability issues need to be paid attention to.
Journal of Economics Bibliography, Mar 4, 2017
Natural resource redistribution and ownership transfer programs are introduced as a way of improv... more Natural resource redistribution and ownership transfer programs are introduced as a way of improving income distribution and alleviating poverty in rural areas of most developing countries. In the case of South Africa, these redistributive policies are implemented in line with the national development plan targeting extreme poverty alleviation and reduction of wide income disparities by 2030. This paper analyses the distributive effects of the land redistribution policy which is a shock in the agriculture sector on poor household income in South Africa by applying a multiplier decomposition and structural path analysis. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing a microscopic analysis of the global multiplier to show the transmission mechanism of household income from a shock into the agriculture sector and show how income moves across sectors, factors and households by dividing the multiplier effects into all its components. The results showed that poor households received higher direct effects and the rich households received high indirect effects from the shock in the agricultural sector. The structural path shows that a significant portion of the global influence of the shock in agriculture is transmitted through the path of factor income which in turn increases poor household income.
Environmental and sustainability indicators, Dec 1, 2020
The sustainability of low-input ruminant farming systems remains poorly understood and evaluation... more The sustainability of low-input ruminant farming systems remains poorly understood and evaluation frameworks that adequately capture their complexity are lacking. The multiple goals of producers, multipurpose roles of ruminants, animal welfare issues, credence goods and services of the system are omitted in existing frameworks. In that context, development of a novel comprehensive framework for evaluating the sustainability of the low-put ruminant farming system is important. The current manuscript, therefore, provides an overview of a systemic process for developing a participatory and interdisciplinary methodological framework to measure sustainability of the low-input ruminant farming system. The proposed framework provides guidance on potentially relevant variables and their subcomponents, and for designing appropriate data collection tools, conducting field measurements and analysing results. The suggested framework captures the complex interrelationships within and between dimensions and indicators of sustainability and apply a system dynamics approach to integrate the indicators into an overall measure of the sustainability of a system.
Water International, Mar 1, 1999
Zimbabwe's economy is based on agriculture. The government of Zimbabwe empha... more Zimbabwe's economy is based on agriculture. The government of Zimbabwe emphasizes the development of the agricultural sector as one of the means to achieve economic development. One of the strategies used for agricultural development is the development of the small holder irrigation sector. The small holder irrigation sector consists of the formal Agritex systems (government-managed), community systems (farmer-managed), and the
Agroecology and sustainable food systems, Jan 23, 2020
Frontiers in sustainable food systems, Dec 1, 2022
Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employmen... more Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employment in rural communities of South Africa. However, despite the revitalization and rehabilitation of SIS by the government, the performance of farmers is still below par. This study evaluates the performance of water-users across four SIS in KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN). Technical E ciency was used as a proxy for performance and the Stochastic Meta-Frontier Analysis method was employed to measure the overall e ciency across households. The e ciency model results showed that governance index, psychological capital, land tenure security, credit access and gender a ect water-users' technical e ciency. The study concludes that interventions should be geared toward strengthening institutions and the empowerment of farmers through relevant training and access to credit. Furthermore, adequacy of water and its availability in the schemes should be improved to ensure profitability and productivity of water.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
Resolution of the existing disconnect between experts and farmers' insights on sustainable farmin... more Resolution of the existing disconnect between experts and farmers' insights on sustainable farming requires understanding of the key factors driving farmers' perceptions on the concept. Interviews were conducted with 160 low-input farmers to evaluate the drivers of their perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was found that farmers had negative perceptions on rangeland, breeding, livestock security and marketing management practices and positive perceptions on socio-cultural, family health and education practices. The major factors that influenced farmers' perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices include location, age, gender and employment status. Males farming full-time in peri-urban areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) while the young farmers had greater probability to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in ecologically related ruminant farming practices. Married, more educated males farming full-time in rural areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) in economically related ruminant farming practices compared to their counterparts. Young males farming full-time had greater probability to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05), whereas rural farmers were more likely to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in socially related ruminant farming practices. These key drivers of farmer's perceptions could be used to develop context-specific indicators for sustainability assessment and synchronise experts and farmers insights on sustainable ruminant farming.
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employmen... more Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SIS) are pivotal in sustaining livelihoods and creating employment in rural communities of South Africa. However, despite the revitalization and rehabilitation of SIS by the government, the performance of farmers is still below par. This study evaluates the performance of water-users across four SIS in KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN). Technical Efficiency was used as a proxy for performance and the Stochastic Meta-Frontier Analysis method was employed to measure the overall efficiency across 306 households. The efficiency model results showed that governance index, psychological capital, land tenure security, credit access and gender affect water-users' technical efficiency. The study concludes that interventions should be geared toward strengthening institutions and the empowerment of farmers through relevant training and access to credit. Furthermore, adequacy of water and its availability in the schemes should be improved to ensure profitability a...
A research paper on perfomance of irrigation-based agro projects of small holder rural producers.
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 2018
Despite more than two decades of implementation, land reform in South Africa remains a hotly cont... more Despite more than two decades of implementation, land reform in South Africa remains a hotly contested terrain that is beset with numerous challenges and uncertainties. One of the main goals of the programme was to transfer land from the predominantly white commercial farmers to a cohort of black small-scale commercial farmers who would productively utilize the farms using irrigation and actively contribute to the local and national agricultural value-chains (Anseeuw and Mathebula, 2008). However, since the mid-1990s when the reforms were introduced, South Africa has struggled to attain the main performance targets set for the reform program and its contribution to the livelihoods of the targeted beneficiaries remains debatable (Mngxitama, 2006; Ntsebeza, 2007; Mpehle, 2012). The land reform process in the country is constituted by three main pillars, namely, restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform. The main objective of the restitution pillar is to return land or provide compensation to black communities who were dispossessed of their land by the apartheid regime. In this regard, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides that persons or communities who were dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices are entitled to restoration of that property or to equitable redress. The redistribution pillar seeks to transfer land from white commercial farmers to blacks who have no land or have inadequate access to land, thereby increasing black ownership of commercial farming land in rural areas. This is provided for in Section 25(5) of the South African Constitution, which states that "the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis." The tenure reform pillar seeks to improve the tenure security of former commercial farming workers who have remained on the land that has been redistributed.
Information Development, 2021
The transformation of smallholder farming is poised to be one of the key drivers of achieving the... more The transformation of smallholder farming is poised to be one of the key drivers of achieving the dual objectives of food security and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Smallholder farmers account for between 60–80% of the food produced in the region but face many challenges that impede their productivity. Such challenges include a lack of timely access to appropriate agricultural information and services, which results in poor decision-making, particularly in addressing challenges and responding effectively to opportunities. In that context, the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in improving accessibility to appropriate agricultural information and services presents substantial prospects for transforming the productivity and livelihoods of the farmers. Currently, the region experiences massive penetration and propagation of mobile and web-based applications. However, there is a dearth of compelling, comprehensive reviews evaluating thei...
The contents covered hereunder are in reference to the agreement between ILRI and IWMI for collab... more The contents covered hereunder are in reference to the agreement between ILRI and IWMI for collaborative work on the CIDA-supported ongoing project on Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS). This document encompasses the findings ...
A study of irrigation systems in Zimbabwe. Proceedings of two workshops held in Harare and Julias... more A study of irrigation systems in Zimbabwe. Proceedings of two workshops held in Harare and Juliasdale, Zimbabwe, 3 - 6 August, 1993.
Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2021
Participatory Irrigation Management is an important concept in the management of water resources.... more Participatory Irrigation Management is an important concept in the management of water resources. It fosters collective responsibility and rule compliance, the lack of which creates a weak environment for sustainable water use. This study adopted Principal Components Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the determinants of farmer’s participation in the management of four smallholder irrigations schemes in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The selected schemes, Ndumo, Makhathini Flats, Mooi River and Tugela Ferry, are representative of the general management and farmer activities in smallholder irrigation schemes in the country. The study considered household data from 341 irrigators and found that those who participated in regulation and control management activities of SIS also participate in information sharing activities. The results show that agricultural training, land tenure security, credit access and co-operative membership positively influence farmers’...
This paper examines the institutional arrangements that facilitate irrigation management and the ... more This paper examines the institutional arrangements that facilitate irrigation management and the present state of irrigation management and establishes where problems have occurred in the operation of Gibe-Lemu and Gambela-Terre Small-scale irrigation systems. The study employed the case study approach to tackle the research. Key informant and expert interview, desk review of different documents produced about the projects, group discussion, direct observation and structured interview schedule were used to collect data. The study proved the proposition that the government has uncritically supported the irrigation systems. Enabling legal system of land and water rights, strong woreda level state irrigation agency, support services (irrigation extension) and wellestablished water users associations through which purposes of irrigation are achieved were not adequately planned and put in place. These shortcomings undermined irrigation management, ultimately risked feasibility and sustai...
Saharan Africa, in general. IWMI is also grateful to officials of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water... more Saharan Africa, in general. IWMI is also grateful to officials of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) for providing information and feedback. A number of officials from regional governments also took a lot of time to provide information and we are grateful to all of them. We are grateful for all the input and assistance provided, by the various individuals and organizations, in compiling this report. However, the authors remain responsible for the contents of this paper.