Abstract: This paper assesses maize-coffee-banana agro-ecosystems’ resilience to damage as well as computing the social-ecological vulnerability index to climate change on the southern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The study focused on identifying agronomic practices and assessing their impacts on agro-ecosystems’ resilience; examine the socio-economic status of the farmers in the region and its impacts on agro-ecosystems; and examine the agro-ecosystems’ natural resilience a...
Bodies of water provide essentials for both human society as well as natural ecosystems. To expand the services these water provide, hybrid food-energy-water systems can be designed. This paper reviews the fields of floatovoltaic (FV) technology (water deployed solar photovoltaic systems) and aquaculture (farming of aquatic organisms) to investigate the potential of hybrid floatovoltaic-aquaculture synergistic applications for improving food-energy-water nexus sustainability. The primary moti...
ABSTRACT There is need for the hygienic processing of cassava prevalent conditions in the commercial grating areas of this staple food show a susceptibility to food contamination. A home scale cassava grater was improved on in a design and fabrication. Machine efficiency, safety factors, and portability were considered in this research. The grating hopper and clinte were modified using stainless steel sheet, the machine runs on single phase 6.5hp (horse power) diesel engine at a speed o...
ABSTRACT This study mainly focused on assessing the Contribution of Food Crops in Promoting Livelihood in Rural Areas in Tanzania, particularly in Muleba District. The study guided with three specific objective: to examine the ways in which extension services and the land tenure systems affect the banana farming in Muleba District, to establish the impacts of climatic changes and banana diseases on the banana production in Muleba District and to assess the role of the government and other sta...
ABSTRACT Fish farming is now a major source of global and local fish requirements of food, raw materials, income and ecological considerations supplementing the dwindling output from the wild waters. Several systems are now in place including use of earthen, concrete, liner ponds and race ways. Earthen ponds are of major concern as they mainly depend on natural stream water sources. The ponds release their effluents containing elevated levels of nutrients as a result of fertilizers and feeds ...
TABLE OF CONTENTSDECLARATIONAPPROVAL iiDEDICATION iiiACKNOWLEDGEMENT ivTABLE OF CONTENTS vLIST OF TABLES ixLIST OF ACRONOMYSOPERATIONAL TERMS xiABSTRACT xiiCHAPTER ONE 1INTRODUCTION 11.O.Background of the study 11.1 .Stateméi~t of the problem 21.2.Objectives of the study 31.3.1 General objective 3I.3.2.Specific objectives 31 .4.Research questions 31.5.Scope of the study 31.6.Significance of the study 3CHAPTER TWO 5LITERATURE REVIEW 52.1 Introduction 5V2.2 Soil conservation practices .52.2.1 ...
ABSTRACT The broad objective of this study was to analyse sustainable agricultural resource use in Nigeria using the Ecological Footprint Approach. The specific objectives included to; estimate the global emergy and emergy density, determine the ecological footprint per capita, analyse the per capita bio-capacity, and ascertain the level of agricultural resource use, sustainability status and resource substitution in Nigeria. The total land area, population and thematic data of the country w...
ABSTRACT The broad objective of this study was to analyse sustainable agricultural resource use in Nigeria using the Ecological Footprint Approach. The specific objectives included to; estimate the global emergy and emergy density, determine the ecological footprint per capita, analyse the per capita bio-capacity, and ascertain the level of agricultural resource use, sustainability status and resource substitution in Nigeria. The total land area, population and thematic data of the country ...
ABSTRACT Agriculture forms the backbone of most African economies and as such it is subject to experimentation in a bid to improve it and gain more from it. The agricultural trajectory has an element of universalism despite its settings and this normally proves consequential to the developing countries as some of the elements that make up its trajectory are not supported by other underlying reasons. It is the element of agricultural universalism that had most African countries adopt the Green...
ABSTRACT Sugarcane farming has been practiced the world over since the Persian farmers discovered the “reeds that produced honey without bees” between the 6th and 4th Centuries in India. Since then, sugarcane farming has been practiced in various tropical regions of the world with the major driver of the industry being the world’s increasing demand for sugar. This has led to the expansion of arable land under sugarcane cultivation, with a myriad of problems presenting themselves ecolog...
ABSTRACT The properties of similar soils under two agroforestry systems, a sole Leucaena leucocephala woodlot and alley (one with cassava and the other maize in between Leucaena leucocephala hedgerows) were compared at two depths (0 - 15 cm and 15 30 cm) to assess the relative changes in soil properties due to the agroforestry practices. Similar soils under conventional tillage, adjacent natural fallow and forest reserve were also used in the study for comparison of data and evaluation of imp...
Abstract: Climate variability and change is increasingly threatening livelihoods and food security and in turn, the attainment of national development goals in Kenya. The declining productivity of agricultural production systems calls for a transformational change in farming practices to ensure sustainable and resilient agriculture. This study assessed smallholder farmers’ perception of climate variability and change, climate smart agricultural practices used by farmers to adapt to climate...
Abstract: This paper describes the ‘push–pull’ or ‘stimulo-deterrent diversionary’ strategy in relation to current and potential examples from our own experiences. The push–pull effect is established by exploiting semiochemicals to repel insect pests from the crop (‘push’) and to attract them into trap crops (‘pull’). The systems exemplified here have been developed for subsistence farming in Africa and delivery of the semiochemicals is entirely by companion cropping, i.e...
ABSTRACT Traditional farming embraces the use of local tools like hoes, jembes, sticks and indigenous farming technology for a wide range of farm operations from land preparation to planting, harvesting, storage and selling the surplus harvests while the impacts of traditional farming include soil degradation, soil erosion and others. This study was therefore to assess the degree of traditional farming and its impacts on soil degradation in Kasemeni division in Kwale County, Kenya. The study ...
ABSTRACT The main objective of the study was to examine how the socio-economic environment of home communities helped in the reintegration of return migrants in selected communities in the Northern Region of Ghana. The macro-methodological theory underlying the study was interpretivism. Mixed and multi-stage sampling techniques were used in selecting respondents in 30 communities from eight MMD Assemblies in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study used interview schedules in collecting quan...