ABSTRACT
This study explores the potential of water financialisation and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to supplant the traditional responsibility of national, state, and local governments in providing public water supply, aligning with SDG Goals. Despite its typical association with the global north, a shifting landscape reveals emerging financial actors and multinational companies playing a more prominent role, prompting governance and accountability inquiries. Given the dearth of investment and persisting challenges in SSA's water infrastructure, the burgeoning involvement of financial actors and capital management entities in the water cycle seems inevitable. However, this trend raises concerns about exacerbating global water stress. Through qualitative methods, the study engaged 50 SSA participants via open-ended questionnaires, analysed using thematic analysis. The findings underscore a nuanced perspective. While acknowledging the potential of water financialisation and entrepreneurship to drive essential investment in SSA's water sector, the research emphasizes the irreplaceable role of government in policy execution and safeguarding citizens' well-being. Government intervention remains crucial to ensuring equitable water access and sustainability. Additionally, the analysis suggests that overemphasizing water financialisation could divert attention from critical infrastructural and technological advancements needed in SSA's water sector. This underscores the necessity of a balanced and comprehensive approach to address the multifaceted challenges surrounding water availability, governance, and sustainability in the region.
ABSTRACT
The nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions of African Yam Bean (AYB) and Lima bean flours under different processing methods were determined. Nutritional and anti-nutritional properties studied include moisture content, crude protein, crude fibre, ash content, ether extract, carbohydrate, tannin, protease inhibitor and phytate. The moisture content of AYB flours ranged from 9.31 to 9.61% while that of lima beans ranged from 9.32 to 9.56%. There is a significant different among the samples when the unprocessed AYB (control) and the processed AYB were compared. The same trend was also observed with lima bean flours. However, some nutrient did not show significant variations with processing. It was observed that samples of soaked/de-hulled AYB have the least protease inhibitor of 0.73 mg/100 g and it is significantly different from the unprocessed samples. Soaked/de-hulled flours of both AYB and lima beans have the most percentage decrease in anti-nutritional content. Lima bean flours were observed to have higher anti-nutritional content than AYB. The percentage decrease of anti-nutritional factors in the samples is proportionally higher than that of the nutrients. The nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions of the samples suggest that processed African Yam Bean (AYB) and Lima bean flours would have useful application in fabricated foods.
