ABSTRACT Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a popular and economically important tropical fruit throughout the world due to its excellent visual and eating qualities and nutritional composition. But the fruit is highly perishable and utmost care is required in handling to reduce postharvest losses. Trade in mangoes has been limited because of its highly perishable nature and its susceptibility to low temperature injury, physical injury and post-harvest diseases. Approaches to extending fresh fru...
ABSTRACT Makueni County in Kenya is one of the leading producers of mango fruits. The County experiences surplus mango production that ends up being wasted or sold at throw away prices due to imperfect marketing. The marketing of fruits is liberalized giving rise to multiple channels. Given the freedom to select a channel, different transaction costs such as information cost, negotiation and contract enforcement have not been evaluated in relation to farmer‟s choice of marketing channel. T...
Abstract Wild brood-stock is a major genetic reservoir for sustainable culture of Clarias gariepinus. This has been observed to be declining in major freshwater dams in Nigeria. There is inadequate information on factors responsible for this decline and their effects on genetic structuring of the fish resources in these dams. This study therefore investigated genetic structure of C. gariepinus in relation to environmental condition of Asejire Dam. The Dam was spatially divided into Oyo...
ABSTRACT The agriculture sector is the backbone of Rwandan economy with tea and coffee as the major source of export earnings. However, between years 2001 and 2016, the share of agriculture exports to the GDP has been fluctuating considerably, and yet it has not been established if this is due to exchange rate volatility. The overall effects of these fluctuations are not obvious and empirical literature is not conclusive on the overall impact of real exchange rate fluctuations on agriculture...
ABSTRACT East Coast fever (ECF) is a current threat to smallholder cattle keepers in the eastern, central, and southern Africa regions; as it causes substantial economic losses. Infection and Treatment Method (ITM) is considered to be the best method for ECF control. ITM has potential benefits of improving the livelihood of cattle keepers; through improving cattle productivity and reducing cost of production. However, since its commercialization in 2010, not all the cattle keepers in the tar...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a major vegetable crops, and is ranked second at 14% of total value of exotic vegetables produced in Kenya after potato with a value of 55%. It is predominantly grown by small to medium scale growers in open fields. However, open field tomato production faces many challenges including weather extremes, diseases and insect pests. The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), is one of the major pests of tomato capable of causing up to 80% loss in yield....
ABSTRACT The feeding value of five browse forages (Balanites aegyptiaca, Maerua angolensis, Acacia brevispica, Grewia hostii and Berchemia discolor) from semi-arid area were evaluated to check their potential as feed supplements. Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay ad-libitum was used as control. The objectives of the study were to determine the feeding value of selected browses, their palatability and performance when growing goats (Small East African x Toggenburg) were offered the browse for...
ABSTRACT Agriculture is important for food security and poverty reduction. Achieving food security is still a challenge to some developed and most of the developing countries. Maize is the main staple that most people in Kenya still depend on. The production of maize has been in the decline over the years with an average annual production of 30 million bags (2.7 million metric tons) against an annual consumption of 42 million bags (3.78 million metric tons). The country on average suffers a ...
Abstract Undertaking forestry practices on private land as a land use activities had been submitted to be mostly situational. There is a strong relationship between forestry and livelihood systems. This makes forestry practice a critical decimal in rural land use equation, most especially in tropical dry forest environment where soil nutrient is maintained by rich vegetation cover. But, in Southeastern Nigeria, the situations that can engender voluntary practice of forestry on private lands ...
Abstract This paper examined the potential of forest conservation support communication along traditional media in use for agricultural information dissemination in and around two reserved sites: Old Oyo National Park, Oyo and Oluwa forest reserve Ondo State. Results show that the reliability of Forest Conservation Support Information (FCSI) sources depends on access to media among respondents (Pearson's X2, = 338.7: d.f = 160: Pr ≤ 0.000). So also, appropriateness determines the relevance ...
ABSTRACT Root knot diseases are known to attack many crops especially legumes such as chickpea. Losses due to root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) in chickpea have been approximated at 13.7% of yield loss which translates to loss of billions of shillings annually. Four main Meloidogyne species; M. hapla, M. javanica, M. arenaria and M. incognita attack chickpeas. Experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to characterise, identify and control Meloidogyne spp. causing root knot disease in...
ABSTRACT Cassava is an important food crop grown across Mali which is cultivated on Ultisols in Sikasso region situated in the southern part of the country. The lack of recommended inorganic fertilizer is among the main constraints in cassava production in the country. The N, P and K inorganic fertilization is not well practiced due to its high cost and no effective fertilizer use packages. This study aimed at determining the effect of four NPK fertilizer (15- 15-15) rates (0kg, 100kg, 200kg...
ABSTRACT Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) is the major constraint in Cassava (Manihot esculenta) production in Eastern Africa including Tanzania. Genetic linkage map is a prerequisite for QTL analysis; marker assisted breeding and map-based gene cloning. It is also a prerequisite for the study of inheritance of qualitative and quantitative traits and the molecular information can be applied in marker-assisted selection (MAS).Objectives of this study were to (I) determine heterozygosity of...
Abstract This paper report findings from a study carried out to obtain information on conservation of the forest and the environmental hazards in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain information on conservation of the forest and the environmental hazards affecting the area. Data were obtained from a systematic sample of 120 residents within three clans namely: Uzere, Aviara and Olomoro in Isoko South LGA of Delta State, Nige...
ABSTRACT Plant clinics were introduced in Nakuru-North Sub-County in 2010 with the objective of improving farmers‟ access to crop protection extension services, subsequently reducing incidences of crop pests and diseases. The services are provided to the farmers on demand. Since their introduction, farmers‟ demand for the services has been low. Many farmers are therefore not benefiting from the services as it was intended. In order to understand the scenario and adopt policies that will ...