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. ...
Dairy farming is an important industry in Kenya with an estimated value of Ksh 160 billion and supporting over 1 million households. Commercial smallholder dairy farmers number over onemillion and produce about 80% of marketed milk in the country. However, the smallholder dairy farmers have had to contend with ups and down in the industry since its liberalization and collapse and revival of the then Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) in 1990s. However, the factors that influence smallho...
ABSTRACT The changes such as increases in urban dwellers and demand for high quality and safe products being witnessed in agrifood systems around the world present opportunities for farmers to orient production to meet the emerging needs. To this end, governments in SubSaharan Africa have been reconstituting new trading policies. In Kenya, banana farming is a prospective activity through which small-scale farmers could exploit the emerging opportunities. This study examines the banana value ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Rapid population growth and urbanization has significantly resulted in higher demand on groundwater resources in urban and peri-urban areas. However, anthropogenic activities and poor protection of groundwater, are potential sources of contamination posing health risks. To access the faecal contamination pathway to determine the quality of groundwater, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a sanitary risk inspection protocol to identify potential risks and hazar...
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 The research focused on socio-environmental effects of Zvishavane urban population growth. It was done in light of the tragedy of the commons theory by Garrett Hardin, in conjunction with Harris and Todaro rural to urban drift model. The researcher used a quantitative research methodology which included the use of questionnaires for data collection. A case study research design method was used to address aims and objectives of the study. The objectives of the study included factors w...
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 Sustainability of open spaces in urban centres is threatened by overpopulation. A study was conducted in 2014 within four wards of Dodoma Capital City District (CCD), to investigate the influence of urban expansion on institutional arrangements for management of urban open spaces. Specific objectives being to establish the trends of urban expansion in relation to open space provision and accessibility; to identify institutions, roles, mandates and to identify important strength, weak...
ABSTRACT The study is an assessment of poor governance and service delivery in Zimbabwean Urban local authorities using Zvishavane Town Council as a case study. It focuses at the issue of poor governance and how it affects service delivery. The research hypotheses of the study postulate that due to poor governance in local authorities the effective and efficient delivery of service is being compromised. The major research objectives of this study were to examine the issue of poor governance a...
ABSTRACT The Zimbabwean urban areas face several social, economical and environmental problems because of the sprawling urban informal settlements caused by constant housing shortage due to mismatch between high demand for decent accommodation and the supply in urban areas. The ‘Operation Garikai or Hlani kuhle” came after “2005 Operation Clean up or Murambatsvina” has failed to supply urban housing effectively as it is indicated by overcrowding and erection of substandard mushrooming...
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...
ABSTRACTThe study adopted Thermal Infrared Remote (TIR) Sensing and Geospatial Information System (GIS) Techniques using LANDSAT TM, LANDSAT ETM and LANDSAT OLI sensors to acquire Urban Surface temperature data emitted by objects in the study area and store the information as a digital number (DN) thermal band (B6, B61 and B10) as well as secondary data acquired from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). Urban Surface Temperature was obtained through the following processes: Acquisi...
ABSTRACT More than half the world’s population in recent times lives in cities. Urban growth is over 90 percent in developing countries, with an annual increase of about 70 million migrants migrating from rural areas to urban areas. The number of urban drawlers is expected to increase in the world’s two poorest regions (South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa) in the next two decades. The study aims at the relationship between rural-urban migration and urban poverty in Ghana with a focus on so...
ABSTRACT Nigeria’s major cities are characterised by huge and growing social and environmental problems, such as air, land and noise pollution; non-conducive local microclimatic conditions; and stressful social and psychological living environments. These result from inadequate, dilapidated and overstretched infrastructure, degraded urban physiognomy, increasing levels of unemployment, crime, insecurity and other social vices. These, in addition to inherent technical and economic constraint...