Current Status and the Future of Occupational Safety and Health Legislation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Ncube, France,Kanda, Artwell Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.4

This article addresses three key issues. First, the commonalities, differences, strengths, and limitations of existing occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation of low- and middle-income countries were determined. Second, required revisions were identified and discussed to strengthen the laws in accordance with the best international practice. Finally, proposals for additional OSH laws and interventions were suggested. A literature search of OSH laws of 10 selected low- and middle-income countries was carried out. The laws were subjected to uniform review criteria. Although the agricultural sector employs more than 70% of the population, most of the reviewed countries lack OSH legislation on the sector. Existing OSH laws are gender insensitive, fragmented among various government departments, insufficient, outdated, and nondeterrent to perpetrators and lack incentives for compliance. Conclusively, the legal frameworks require reformation and harmonization for the collective benefit to employees, employers, and regulatory authorities. New OSH legislation for the agricultural sector is required.

Current Status and the Future of Occupational Safety and Health Legislation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

France Ncube,Artwell Kanda 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.4

This article addresses three key issues. First, the commonalities, differences, strengths, and limitations of existing occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation of low- and middle-income countries were determined. Second, required revisions were identified and discussed to strengthen the laws in accordance with the best international practice. Finally, proposals for additional OSH laws and interventions were suggested. A literature search of OSH laws of 10 selected low- and middle-income countries was carried out. The laws were subjected to uniform review criteria. Although the agricultural sector employs more than 70% of the population, most of the reviewed countries lack OSH legislation on the sector. Existing OSH laws are gender insensitive, fragmented among various government departments, insufficient, outdated, and nondeterrent to perpetrators and lack incentives for compliance. Conclusively, the legal frameworks require reformation and harmonization for the collective benefit to employees, employers, and regulatory authorities. New OSH legislation for the agricultural sector is required.

Agricultural Sector Development and Structural Transformation: Sub-Saharan Africa versus East Asia

김희식,Mthuli Ncube 한국경제발전학회 2013 한국경제발전학회 학술대회 Vol.2013 No.3

본고는 사하라 이남 국가들이 경제발전에서 직면하는 두 가지 도전과제 -즉, 성장 기반 확충과 성장모멘텀 지속- 에 대한 농업발전의 역할을 논의한다. 먼저 기존연구 검토를 통해 원시농업단계에서 산업화단계로 발전하기 위해서는 농업발전을 통해 저축과 인구배당(demographic dividend)을 창출하는 과정을 거쳐야 한다는 가설을 제시하였다. 이를 검정하기 위해 동아시아지역과 사하라이남지역 경제에 관한 시계열자료를 살펴보았다. 우선 비사하라 이남국가가 사하라 이남국가를 추격하였으며 1990년에서야 추월할 수 있었던 것으로 나타났다. 이 추격 메커니즘에 관련된 사회경제지표를 분석한 결과 선세대에 의한 포괄적 농업부문발전이 차세대에 공업발전을 달성하는 토대가 되었던 것으로 추정된다. 이에 더하여 1990년부터 2007년까지 저·중소득국가를 각각 사하라 이남과 비사하라 이남(동아시아 포함)국가군으로 구분하여 경제발전요인을 분석한 결과 비사하라 이남 저소득국가군에서는 농업발전이 경제에 긍정적 외부효과를 미치나 사하라이남국가군에서는 그렇지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 비 사하라이남 중소득국가군에서는 농업부문취업자비중 혹은 유년의존인구비중의 감소가 경제의 생산성에 긍정적 외부효과를 미치나 사하라이남국가군에서는 그렇지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 아울러 농업부문 고용비용감소 속도가 초기의 농업발전수준이 높은 국가일수록 빠른 반면 그 역은 성립하지 않았다. 농업의 역할에 관한 이상의 새로운 실증적 발견은 사하라이남국가의 경제개발전략에 관한 오랜 논쟁에 해결의 실마리를 제공할 수 있는 것으로 생각된다. 구체적으로 사하라이남 저개발국가들이 '토지의 (부족)공유제'와 같은 제약조건을 극복하고 농업의 사회·경제 발전에 대한 긍정적 외부효과를 내부화하는 데는 '제도개혁을 통한 발전 모멘텀 찾기 (development from within'와 '선농정책 (agriculture-first)'을 펼치는 것이 세계화에 편승하여 농업발전단계를 건너뛰는 도약정책(leapfrogging)보다 더 유효할 것임을 시사한다. This paper revisits the roles of agricultural sector development for traditional economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in responding to their twofold challenges - broadening the base of economic growth and sustaining the growth momentum. By examining the mechanism of East Asian economies' catching up and forging ahead of Sub-Saharan Africa by as lately as 1990 with the two regions' time-series data, it finds that broad-based agricultural sector development by the old generation has paved the way for industrial development by the next generation in East Asia. Also from analyzing cross-country panel data over the period from 1990 to 2007 when globalization prevailed, it has demonstrated significance of the positive externalities of agricultural sector development on the economy through generating demographic dividends and savings indispensable for initiating industrial development. These novel empirical findings contribute to resolving the age-old policy debate. That is, the initial conditions of underdevelopment especially the tradition of 'communal ownership of land' and the need to internalize the externalities of agriculture together necessitate for SSA economies to take the approach of 'development from within' and 'agriculture-first' rather than the 'leapfrogging' approach to industrial development, widespread globalization notwithstanding.

An Econometric Model of Employment in Zimbabwe's Manufacturing Industries

Almas Heshmati,Mkhululi Ncube 중앙대학교 경제연구소 2004 Journal of Economic Development Vol.29 No.2

This paper is concerned with the estimation of employment relationship and employment efficiency under production risk using a panel of Zimbabwe’s manufacturing industries. A flexible labour demand function is used consisting of two parts: the traditional labour demand function and labour demand variance function. Labour demand is a function of wages, output, quasi-fixed inputs and time variables. The variance function is a function of the determinants of labour demand and a number of production and policy characteristic variables. Estimation of industry and time-varying employment efficiency is also considered. The empirical results show that the average employment efficiency is 92%.

Metabolomics-derived insights into the manipulation of terpenoid synthesis in Centella asiatica cells by methyl jasmonate

Fidele Tugizimana,Efficient N. Ncube,Paul A. Steenkamp,Ian A. Dubery 한국식물생명공학회 2015 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.9 No.3

Centella asiatica is an important medicinal plant with a wide range of bioactivities associated with its secondary metabolites. Using two extraction procedures, metabolomic approaches were used to investigate changes in the metabolome of C. asiatica cells treated with exogenous MeJA. GC–MS and LC–MS platforms were employed for semi-targeted and untargeted analyses, respectively. Multivariate data analyses indicated concentration- dependent changes in the metabolite profiles, indicative of the cellular response to MeJA. Annotation of biomarkers correlated with the treatment indicate differential responses in flavonoid-, phenylpropanoid (cinnamates)- and terpenoid pathways and changes in fatty acid profiles. MeJA treatment triggered the accumulation of bicyclic sesquiterpenoids (aristolochene, deoxy-capsidiol, 15-hydroxysolavetivone, solavetivone, 3-hydroxylubimin) and a tricyclic sesquiterpenoid (phytuberin), indicating the stimulatory effect of MeJA on this branch of the terpenoid pathways. In contrast, flavonoids were mostly negatively correlated with the treatment. The presence of the sesquiterpenoids in MeJA-elicited cells and other tentatively identified metabolites (abscisic acid, fatty acids, phytosterols and metabolites of shikimate–phenylpropanoid pathways) indicates that the changes in the metabolome are associated with a defensive function in response to elicitation by MeJA, rather than just the amplification of existing terpene pathways. These results provide a detailed and comprehensive picture of metabolic changes occurring in C. asiatica cells in response to MeJA elicitation and contribute to the understanding of flexible and controllable aspects of metabolic manipulation.

Agricultural Sector Development and Structural Transformation: Sub-Saharan Africa versus East Asia

Hee-Sik Kim,Mthuli Ncube 서울대학교 경제연구소 2014 Seoul journal of economics Vol.27 No.3

This study examines the nature of economic stagnation in the majority of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and discusses different approaches to structural transformation of their traditional agriculture- based economies. The argument is that the economies and people of SSA countries suffer from a Malthusian stagnation and poverty. This study attributes the Malthusian stagnation to underutilization of the richly endowed land and other agricultural resources, which in turn is due to the prevalence of “communal ownership of land” in rural areas. It argues that the traditional institution has kept agricultural productivity at extremely low levels and prevented a demographic dividend from being created. This study reviews the experiences of East Asian and other countries in their early stage of economic development along with those of SSA to understand the process of an economic takeoff. From this emerges the importance of broad-based agricultural development in enabling a traditional agriculture-based economy to get prepared for the takeoff. In particular, it turns out that internalizing the external effects of agricultural development on human development and its effects on savings is the key. It also finds supportive evidences from panel-data analyses of the dynamic driving forces in different stages of economic development.