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 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 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...
ABSTRACT In 2010, the Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) was initiated by the Government of Kenya with the aim of encouraging aquaculture in Kenya. Kitui Central Sub- County benefited with 200 fish ponds under ESP. However, their status is not known in terms of production, challenges and the contribution of fish farming to household wellbeing. To address this, a sample of sixty (60) fish farmers were used from the targeted 200 fish farmers who benefited from the Government’s support. The prima...
ABSTRACT In 2010, the Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) was initiated by the Government of Kenya with the aim of encouraging aquaculture in Kenya. Kitui Central Sub- County benefited with 200 fish ponds under ESP. However, their status is not known in terms of production, challenges and the contribution of fish farming to household wellbeing. To address this, a sample of sixty (60) fish farmers were used from the targeted 200 fish farmers who benefited from the Government’s support. The prima...
ABSTRACT In recent years, global warming/climate change has caused many glaciers to melt with the subsequent rising of sea levels. This has put many coastal communities all over the world especially those in developing countries at risk. The vulnerability of these communities to the impacts of climate change depends on many factors including environmental and socio-economic factors. This study sought to assess the vulnerability of coastal communities in Ghana to the impacts of climate chang...
ABSTRACT Market intergration and access, are critical and important aspects to rural poor households. They are a pre-requisite for enhancing agriculture based economic growth through the improvement of competitiveness of farming enterprise and improving rural incomes. Several studies have been conducted on participation and access of small-scale farmers in rice and other crops marketing in Africa, but, specific information on the extent to which small-scale rice farmers are integrated into d...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine pottery production, marketing and consumption by the contemporary Mbeere people. Pottery production was one of the earliest technologies adopted by farming communities whereby they used pots as storage facilities for their agricultural produce (Sharer and Ashmore, 1987). This industry has continued to date and thus studies in pottery have been carried out to understand cultural groups, how they adapt and manipulate the environment to meet the...
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...
Abstract In the Upper West Region of Ghana, most the people are engaged in subsistence agriculture. A major challenge that they face is a long dry season of about eight months that renders most of them jobless. This research assessed the possibility of dry season farming in improving living standards of rural farmers. The research revealed that most farmers used dams with canals and furrows, others used canals with fuel powered pumps and some used wells for irrigating their crops. An average ...