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Dust (particulate matters) is very dangerous to our health as it is not visible with our naked eyes. Emissions of dust concentrations in the natural environment can occur mainly by road traffic, constructions and dust generating working environments. The purpose of this paper is to assess the ambient dust pollution status and to find out the association between PM concentrations and other determinant factors such as wind speed, ambient temperature, relative humidity and traffic congestion.

A cross-sectional study was conducted for two consecutive months (June and July, 2016) at a residential site (Defence Services Liver Hospital, Mingaladon) and a commercial site (Htouk-kyant Junction, Mingaladon) based on WHO Air Quality Reference Guideline Value (24-hour average). Hourly monitoring of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration and determinant factors such as traffic congestion, wind speed, ambient temperature and relative humidity for 24 hours a day was performed in both study sites. CW-HAT200 handheld particulate matters monitoring device was used to assess PM concentrations, temperature and humidity while traffic congestion was monitored by CCTV cameras.

The baseline PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations of Mingaladon area were (28.50±11.49)µg/m³ and (52.69±23.53)µg/m³, means 61.48 percent of PM2.5 concentration and 54.92 percent of PM10 concentration exceeded than the WHO reference value during the study period. PM concentration usually reached a peak during early morning (within 3:00 a.m.-5:00 a.m.) and at night (after 9:00 p.m.). PM2.5 concentration mainly depends on traffic congestion and temperature (adjusted R²=0.286), while PM10 concentration depends on traffic congestion and relative humidity (adjusted R²=0.292). Wind speed played a negative role in both PM2.5 and PM10 concentration with r=−0.228 and r=−0.266.

The air quality of the study area did not reach the satisfiable condition. The main cause of increased dust pollution in the whole study area was high traffic congestion (R²=0.63 and 0.60 for PM2.5 and PM10 concentration).

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has been in effect since 2019. It has impacted people's lives differently, and education is one of the biggest challenges. In Myanmar, apart from the pandemic, the Coup d’état in 2021 crippled development across many sectors, including education. Consequently, they interfered with Myanmar's progress toward inclusive education in line with Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4). A brief overview of Myanmar's progress and challenges in implementing inclusive education is provided in this chapter. Furthermore, it aims to bring ideas on how inclusive education in Myanmar could improve in the aftermath of the pandemic and coup.

Even though many studies identify positive effects of contract farming (CF) on the livelihood of farmers, the use of CF as a tool to increase farm performance is unsettled debate. Information on CF is relatively not available in staple food chains. Theoretical considerations have shown that there are challenges in employing CF in staple food chains such as rice. With the increasing trend of rice CF in Ghana, it is very critical to establish its performance in rice production in Ghana. It is therefore imperative to analyse the impact of CF on the performance of smallholder rice farmers.

A survey was conducted where 350 rice farmers selected through a stratified sampling technique using structured questionnaires were interviewed. Descriptive and inferential statistics including stochastic frontier analyses and endogenous treatment effect regression were used to analyse the data.

The results from the endogenous treatment effect regression model show that CF improves rice farmers' technical, allocative and economic efficiencies by 21, 23 and 26%, respectively. Farm size and CF were identified as common factors influencing technical, allocative and economic efficiency measures of the farmers positively. It further identified age of farmer, educational level and household labour as factors influencing farmers' participation in CF positively.

It is recommended that CF is a good tool to enhance rice production efficiency, and hence, farmers should be encouraged to participate in CF as strategy to enhance the local rice production in Ghana.

The outcome of this study has the potential to influence rice production in the country. The country is a net importer of rice and just about 35% self-sufficient in rice production.

This study is the first to assess performance of CF in rice crop production in Ghana and also one of the few to use efficiency as a performance measure.