Abstract: Plant parasitic nematodes (PPN) are biotic constraints to crop production worldwide resulting in significant yield losses. Management of these nematodes has primarily depended on chemical nematicides; but due to the increased pressure for more economic and environmentally friendly strategies, alternative methods like organic and conventional amendments, have been considered. To test the efficacy of conventional and farmer practice systems against organic farming in the suppression ...
ABSTRACT Climate change and variability is one of the great challenges facing farming households in Ghana. The main objective of this study is to assess the vulnerability of smallholder maize farming households to climate variability in the Eastern region. Specifically, the study investigates the vulnerability of households to climate variability, the determinants of households’ livelihood vulnerability level, the adoption level of adaptation strategies to climate variability and the deter...
ABSTRACT Since the latter part of the 20th Century to date, climate change has received considerable global attention due to its threats on all sectors of the global economy, particularly agriculture. Sub-Saharan Africa, for which Ghana is part, is considered as most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and variability due to its low adaptive capacity and dependent on predominantly rain-fed agriculture. Farmers in Ghana and beyond are not only prone to climatic stressors but also to n...
Abstract: Agroecological farming systems such as maize–legume intercropping (MLI) and push-pull technology (PPT) have been introduced to mitigate losses from pests. Nevertheless, the regionwide maize yield gained from practicing such farming systems remains largely unknown. This study compares the performance of two uncomplex and interpretable models, namely the hybrid fuzzy-logic combined with the genetic algorithm and symbolic regression, to predict maize yield. Specifically, the study a...
Abstract Goat production has been argued to offer an alternative and potentially lucrative livelihood option to poor subsistent farmers in Southern Africa. Many small-scale farming families raise indigenous goats which are considered to be the poor-man’s cattle due to their relative importance to the asset base of poor farming households. The practical implementation of poverty alleviation and reduction interventions at community level however often falls short of expectations and this stud...
ABSTRACT: Agriculture is the cornerstone of Kenya’s economy with most households depending on it for food and livelihood. Women provide the largest share of agricultural labour in many households. Despite the important role that women play, they are discriminated in the area of access to and control over the agricultural benefits. In agriculture, tea farming was the main foreign exchange earner in the year 2011. But despite the important role tea farming plays in Kenya, there are gender ine...
ABSTRACT In spite of the numerous efforts being made by researchers within the agricultural sector to link farmers with improved and modern methods of farming, there are still a lot of farmers operating at subsistence levels. This research examines an additional rather than a substitutional means to assist in the effective linkage of agricultural research and processes to farmers in Ghana. This is done by exploring how Theatre (using Theatre for Development processes) can be used as a vehic...
ABSTRACT Evidence has shown that Time Allocation (TA) to various activities by gender has implications for the poverty status of households. Yet, there is little empirical evidence on the influence of TA on household poverty in rural Nigeria. Hence, the influence of gender TA on the poverty status of rural farming households in Southwestern Nigeria (SWN) was investigated. Oyo and Osun states were randomly selected from SWN. Two rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly chosen from eac...
Abstract: Recently, due attention was given to whether contract farming brings a holistic impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers or not. Hence, the objectives of this study were to identify the determinants of dairy contract farming, its enforcement, and impact on milk production efficiency and annual income using data collected from 424 (192 participants and 232 non-participants) randomly selected milk-producing farmers from three districts of the North Shewa zone of Oromia Regiona...
Abstract The study entitled ‘ An investigation into the suitability of guano fertilizer on farming in Gokwe North District- Chireya Ward 5 in Midlands Province in Zimbabwe’, was carried out to find out the solution to the problems caused by chemical fertilizers like health hazards, pollutions on water, air, soil only to mention but a few. The study employed an explanatory research design and a qualitative research paradigm. Farmers, agricultural officers, agricultural teachers, local auth...
EXTENDED ABSTRACT The crop-livestock farming system is a traditional and main agricultural practice in the eastern part of Ethiopia, where crop grains are produced for food security and residues are for animal feed and domestic fuel consumption. As a result, farmers practice crop residues removal management throughout the cropping seasons. However, there is no adequate information on the impacts of crop residues removal management on soil properties and crop yields under such farming system. ...
Abstract: Cereals particularly maize, are the most essential food and cash crops for majority of smallholder households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In maize production, small-sized producers are confronted with different constraints including stemborers, Striga and degraded soil leading to poor crop yields. In response to these challenges, the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and collaborators came up with a habitat management approach; the Push-pull Technology ...
ABSTRACT The main objective of the study was to determine if there were differential barriers to entry into dry season farming in the Kassena Nankana East and Bongo Districts of the Upper East Region of Ghana and if so, how this affects participation and to what outcome. The types of barriers identified as important from the literature were categorized into economic, institutional, technical and socio- cultural barriers. The research design was a case study and used both quantitative ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture remains the mainstay of the African economy as an engine of economic growth and development where 88% of the continent’s populations living in rural areas earn their livelihood from agriculture (Ndambi 2008). Also 80% of Uganda’s cultivated land area falls under subsistence form of agriculture (Kalyebara 2005). It is this phenomenon that prompted a research study whose intention was to investigate the implications of subsistence farming in the natural environment, the...
ABSTRACT Agriculture sustains the livelihoods of about 80% of Tanzanian households. Cotton is amongst the two most important export cash crops in Tanzania and the first for the Western cotton-producing zone. Although Tanzania’s cotton output has increased, average cotton yields in the country reported being only 760 kg /ha though yields of about 1200 kg/ha can be realized. The objective of this study was to measure the performance of cotton smallholder farmers. Technical factors that affec...