ABSTRACT Energy study was conducted in an organic fertilizer plant in Ibadan, Nigeria, to determine the energy requirement for production of both powdered and pelletised organic fertilizer. The energy consumption patterns of the unit operations were evaluated for production of 9,000 kg of the finished products. The analysis revealed that eight and nine defined unit operations were required for the production of powder and pellets, respectively. The electrical and manual energy required for t...
Agriculture is the dominant source of livelihood in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. However, in semi-arid eastern Kenya, smallholder farm productivity has been diminishing due to declining soil fertility and frequent droughts. Nitrogen (N) is the principal nutrient element limiting crop productivity in the region, followed by phosphorus (P). The use of N fixing legumes in intercrop with cereal crops is among the cheaper-viable options available for the resource-constraint farmers to enhanc...
Abstract: Land use and land cover changes have effect on soil fertility, soil organic carbon stock and soil physicochemical properties. To determine the effects of LULC on selected physicochemical properties of soil and soil organic carbon stock (SOCS) a study was conducted in soro district of Hadiya Zone at Shonkola sub watershed under different land use types. Soil samples from 0 to 15 cm and 15 to 30 cm depth were collected from three major land use types; grassland, cultivated land and f...
ABSTRACT The city of Accra currently accommodates about four million people. The city has now expanded to the fringes that were previously rural settlements. Most of these rural settlements were farming communities that provided food for the city. However, urbanization has affected agricultural production and farmlands are being lost to other land uses. This study examines the effect of urbanization on the availability of land for crop farming in the Ga East Municipality. The study used a mix...
ABSTRACT Contamination of existing and potential agricultural lands is a major problem associated with the processing and distribution of crude and refined petroleum products in many oil producing countries like Nigeria. Hydrocarbon contaminants in soil are potentially phytotoxic to plants and interfere with plant establishment and growth as well as other land uses. The problems of pollution have led to the exploration of many remedial approaches to effect the clean-up of the polluted soils....
ABSTRACT Environmentally friendly farming technologies play key roles in ensuring food safety and security, human health and in restoring and conserving the environment to safeguard the well-being of humans and animals. Therefore, future food security and economic independence of developing countries like Ghana would depend on ecosystems sustainability and agricultural productivity. This study explored the importance of farming practices on ecosystems sustainability for improved rural liveli...
ABSTRACT Irrigation has proven to be one of the surest ways of increasing agriculture production, particularly in arid areas. Notwithstanding this, the opportunity has not been optimally utilised to better the lots of rural smallholder farmers. This study, therefore, sought to examine how irrigation systems are governed, the contribution of irrigation to livelihood enhancement and relationship between irrigation farming and migration in the Wa West District. This study was conducted using a ...
ABSTRACT Organic wastes, such as faecal sludge (FS), cocoa pod husk (CPH) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) abound in large quantities in the Ghanaian environment. They contain considerable amounts of nutrients and organic matter which can be recycled to improve soil organic matter content and boost soil fertility status. This study was conducted to characterize and quantify FS produced in Sekondi Takoradi metropolis (STMA), co-compost FS with EFB and CPH, evaluate the suitability of the co-compo...
Abstract Five novel semiconducting organic small molecules have been synthesised, fully characterised, and their photovoltaic performance tested in fabricated organic solar cells. Three (molecules 5, 7 and 9) were acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) small molecules bearing an electron-rich (3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene) EDOT central core with different terminal groups. The additional two (molecules 20 and 21) were truxene derivatives which have been differentiated by the alkyl chain length on the ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This feasibility study on the establishment of a Poultry Farm is based on the Survey made by Ogah Innocent Ojiya and the business. Which will be wholly owned by him. The proposed name of the Poultry farm will be Vrabil Poultry Farm and will concentrate on sales of birds and its products. When the farm grows to maturity we shall be supplying birds and its products to different Quick Services restaurant, Large and Small Markets resident populaces alike, in South West Nigeria....
ABSTRACT Varying climatic conditions with increased uncertainty mainly in rainfall and temperature are salient features in marginal areas globally, adversely affecting farming activities particularly in Africa. Kenya experiences variations of annual rainfall with considerable uncertainty. These variations ranging from below 500mm to above 2000mm annually, cause droughts and floods respectively, affecting farming activities and yields. This study focused on Machakos sub County, a semi arid are...
AbstractPrevalence of food insecurity has remained a concern in Imo State and indeed the Sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, this study investigated the analysis of food security among farming households in Imo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 144 farmers for this study. Information on the objectives of this study was elicited from the sampled respondents through a well- structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Food security ind...
ABSTRACT Contract farming (CF) is increasingly gaining importance. However, there are some controversies on its impact on the livelihood in agrarian societies. It is alongside this argument that pressed on conducting the present study to ascertain the impact of contract farming to the livelihood of grapevine farmers in Dodoma Municipal, Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed at examining the main features of grapevine CF, identifying factors that influence small grape farmers' engagement in...
ABSTRACT Constraints to soil productivity include reduction in soil fertility and lack of adequate soil water conservation techniques due to erratic rainfall in central highlands of Kenya. This study evaluated effects of combining integrated soil fertility management options and tied-ridging on maize-soybean yields and selected soil properties during short rains in 2014 and long rains in 2015 seasons. The study was carried out in Kigogo primary school in Tharaka- Nithi County. The experimenta...
Abstract This dissertation presents an overview of the research work with the above caption. This research is divided into five major sections or parts. Part one deals with interfacial adhesion studies of the layers relevant to organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).The adhesion interactions, that is, force and energy between different interfaces of the adjacent layers relevant to the OLED structure used in this work are analyzed together with their implication(s) on the device performance. I...