Abstract Hydroponics, a system of growing crops without soil, has been successfully used to grow crops on a commercial scale. Hydroponics has the potential to fill the gap of low agricultural production in Ghana due to its high efficiency while serving as an environmentally friendly alternative to soil culture. This method of farming has benefitted from new technologies like IoT and machine learning that make it possible to integrate intelligent agents in the management of hydroponic systems ...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is one of the major vegetables grown in Kenya as a commercial crop. It is mainly grown in the open-field under both rain-fed and irrigation production systems. The crop has gained popularity as a cash crop due to declining land sizes as it can be grown on small-scale unlike traditional cash crops like coffee and tea. Since the crop is susceptible to diseases and weather conditions, the country does not have an all year round supply of the produce. Co...
ABSTRACT Retbiliry indices ore considered to be remonabk md logic wuys to judge the perfirmame of rm electric power tystem ReliabiIi~in dices which m proposed by the IEEE are used ra evaluate the perfmmce of selected distribution.~stemo n the natlonai grid. Ten yems of outage data (1998 - 200 7) from seven selected disi?ibwtl'on systems on the national grid were wed as case studies in this resewch work. A generalized model is developedf or a qsrantimive evalucrti~nof relative indices of the n...
ABSTRACT Sugarcane farming systems can adversely affect soil properties especially total soil organic carbon stocks (TSOCst) and fractions. This study was carried out in Western Kenya sugar zones to assess impacts of tillage systems (Tractor and Oxen ploughing), and plantation ages (continuous mono-cropping system, more than 20 years, 11 ̶ 20 years, 0 ̶ 10 years) on TSOCst and fractions (particulate soil organic carbon, POC, and the mineral associated soil organic carbon, MOC) in three diff...
ABSTRACT Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions data from large-scale agricultural activities are available. In developing countries, e.g. Kenya, agriculture is dominated by smallholder farming, data on the assessment of possible contributions of smallholder agriculture to GHG emissions and GHG fluxes data from smallholder farming systems in the tropics is scarce. The study area is a 10 square km area also called the ―Lower Nyando Block‖ in Western Kenya. The basin varies in landscapes (low la...
ABSTRACT Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Foreign income generated from cocoa production serves as the backbone of the economy of Ghana, yet the high poverty prevalence amongst cocoa farming households affect greatly their food security status which in the long run leads to low production outputs. Therefore, this study seeks ...
Mechanised agriculture has the potential to supply Nigeria with the export needs, it requires to diversify and close its GDP gap. This potential can be actualised if the rural agricultural farmers adopted the use of mechanised irrigation farming techniques. The wind is widespread in Nigeria and wind-powered irrigation system is a clean and decentralised alternative for providing rural communities with electricity for meeting domestic and irrigation farming power needs in a sustainable way. In...
ABSTRACT Taungya farming is a special arrangement between the forestry department and farmers, which combines the production of both arable and forest tree crops simultaneously on a piece of land. The practice was adopted in Vandeikya Local Government area of Benue State Nigeria, in mid 1950s up to 2000. This study evaluated the method as an option for food and fiber production compared to the traditional farming and forest management practices. Using Stratified random sampling, two sets of q...
ABSTRACT This study presents the impact of traditional irrigation on the household livelihood in Same district, Kilimanjaro region. The overall objective of this study was to assess the contribution of traditional irrigation systems to the well-being of smallholder farmers. The specific objective was to examine the contribution of traditional irrigation in improving household food security and income; determine the profitability of crop production enterprises with and without traditional ir...
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 ...
ABSTRACTS Sub-Saharan Africa depends on agriculture for economic growth and the well being of its people. The sub-region, and indeed the whole of Africa, has been losing a running battle to make agricultural production meet the ever-increasing population. To make food production cope with the population growth and to achieve economic development, many extension models have been tried. Currently the pre-dominant extension system in Africa is the Training and Visit extension system. In Ghana th...
ABSTRACT This study analysed the economics of smallholder organic farmers in the Muleba district. Specifically, the study was conducted to identify the costs associated with organic and conventional coffee production, to assess the profitability of the two farming system and to determine the effect of premium price in compensation of yield in organic coffee. The study also addressed the coffee organic standard demanded by importers. Multistage, purposive and simple random sampling procedures...
Abstract: Ethiopian smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable group of societyto the effects of climate variabilitybecause they have nature dependent economic system. This study examinedtheeffects of climate variability on five major cereals yield,crop income and rural labor displacementin thecentral highlands and Arsi grain plough farming systems of Ethiopia. The seven round unbalanced panel data (1994-2009) collected by Ethiopian Rural Household Survey from 15 kebeles of the seven farmin...
ABSTRACT The temporal distribution of four important cocoa mirid species (Distantiella theobroma Dist, Sahlbergella singularis Hagl, Helopeltis bergothii and Bryocoropsis laticollis) was studied in three differently managed cocoa farming systems from May 2013 to April 2014. In addition, the incidence of Bathycoelia thalassina, Characoma stictigrapta, Anomis leona, Earias biplaga, Eulophonotus myrmeleon, Oecophylla longinoda and Crematogaster africana, were recorded. The three systems were: Or...
INTRODUCTION In an attempt to carry out a comprehensive study of the financial system in Nigeria, it is highly necessary to explain the meaning and qualities of a system. This will in no small measure support our understanding of the dynamic nature of the financial system. According to Nzotta (1999), a system can be defined as an organized group of components (subsystems) linked together according to a plan, to achieve specific objects. Another point of view posits that a system is a set or a...