ABSTRACT According to the UN, sea surface temperatures (SST) are increasing at alarming rates and the oceans are increasingly polluted by anthropogenic activities. This thesis sought to determine how two pollutants – cadmium (Cd) and pyrene (PY) interacting with sea surface warming affect copepod egg production (EP), mortality and recycling of ingested food through faecal pellet (FP) production. A field study was conducted on transects established on the Western, Central and Eastern Coast T...
ABSTRACT Diversification is a necessity in rural areas, where farming alone rarely provides sufficient means of survival. Conceptualisation of livelihood diversification as plurality of activities from past studies is too narrow. Rather, livelihood diversification should be conceived in terms of the interplay of ability, assets and activities. Therefore, livelihood diversification among rural households in southwestern Nigeria was investigated. Multistage random sampling technique was used to...
ABSTRACT Rural development has been erroneously equated to agricultural development. The former works to diversify income through non-farm activities to complement proceeds of the latter. However, the actual role of non-farm income in poverty alleviation is not yet known among rural households. There is therefore the need to critically explore the roles of non-farm income diversification in rural poverty alleviation. The patterns and contributions of nonfarm income diversification to poverty...
ABSTRACT Increasing population in Kenya has resulted into scarcity of land for farming. As a result, many people are opting to do farming even in the small land spaces available along the highways. However, heavy metal pollution along the highways is an issue of concern despite the fact that leaded fuel is no longer in use in Kenya because this exposes man and animals to heavy metals. The increase in transportation services is becoming a major source of heavy metals pollution particularly alo...
This document presents the research proposal on Impact of Urbanization on Enviornmental Degradation Introduction Environmental degradation remains the most complex issue for developed countries and is no longer practically valid for unindustrialized countries. The world’s developed and unindustrialized countries are affected by high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Environmental destruction is caused by forest fires, and the main elements that affect environmental degradation are flooding in...
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: 1.0 General Introduction or background of the study 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Purpose/objectives of the study 1.4 significance of the study 1.5 Research hypothesis 1.6 Scope and limitations of the study 1.7 Organization of the study/plan of the study synopsis of each chapter. 1.8 Definition of terms Reference CHAPTER TWO: 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2...
ABSTRACT People are forced into street vending due to various factors. First and foremost street vending is a source of livelihood for the urban poor and those who couldn’t be absorbed into the formal sectors of the economy. Zimbabwe is facing a plethora of economic challenges and under such a precarious state of affairs street vending activities are on the rise. The astronomical growth of street entrepreneurs is an addition to multifarious challenges faced by urban local authorities in mos...
ABSTRACT Farming has a huge potential in offering employment to the youth considering its wider labour absorptive capacity. Despite the recognition of employment creation, youth participation in working as a farmer is low due to their attitudes towards farming. The current study describes socio-economic factors that influence formation of youth attitudes in Kuresoi Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya. A sample of 120 youths was selected randomly from registered youth groups. Data was collected ...
ABSTRACT Climate variability and change pose serious challenges to smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists. Nonetheless, their trends and impacts on rain-fed farming system (RFFS) in semi-arid areas of Tanzania have not sufficiently been explored. This study was conducted in Iramba and Meatu districts to contribute to this knowledge gap. The study specifically (i) assessed meteorological data trends of rainfall and temperature between 1994 and 2011; (ii) determined farmers’ perception of ...
ABSTRACT Microbial diversity and function in agro-ecosystems is influenced by various aspects linked to soil and agronomic practices for example, tillage, irrigation, crop rotation and application of organic and inorganic inputs. Farming systems practices may affect the dynamic interactions existing between soil, plant and microorganisms in different agricultural biomes. Due to limitations associated with conventional microbial cultivation strategies, only a fractional number of cultivable sp...
ABSTRACT The study analyzed small-scale cassava-based farmers’ demand and utilization for microfinance banks credit in Imo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: examine the socio-economic characteristics of small-scale cassava-based farmers; determine the amount of credit demanded and obtained by small-scale cassava-based farmers; estimate the factors influencing the amount of credit demanded by small-scale cassava-based farmers; estimate the determinants on the amount of credit...
Abstract In Nigeria, as in many other countries, wastewater use in agricultural production by farming households is on the rise and there is a need to draw the attention of key players and urban authorities in fostering appropriate planning initiatives. For this reason, the perception and knowledge of vegetable farmers becomes necessary to improve their production activities and yield. While previous studies have confirmed limited or no awareness information and education to vegetable farmers...
ABSTRACT This paper presents a review on the literature of tobacco farming on the observed research on the impact of tobacco farming on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers as well its impact on poverty alleviation. In this study I drew on the existing academic structure on tobacco farming in Zimbabwe. An examination of the factors that led farmers in partaking tobacco farming was carried out on 86smallholder farmers. The case was in Centenary District. This study was therefore initiated wi...
ABSTRACT This study aimed at analyzing the contribution of sunflower production to the livelihood of farmers and development of small scale industries. The study collected information from 101 sample size. The methods used to collect data were Interview, Questionnaires, Participatory Observation, Focus Group Discussion and Institutional Capacity Assessment (ICA). The findings revealed that Production trend of sunflower for the past five years in 2007-20011 has a tendency of falling and rising...
ABSTRACT The rise of contract farming and vertically integrated firms of production and marketing is undoubtly one of the most important changes in Tanzania economy. The study examined new role of contract farming (CF) in Tanzania towards designing partnership model in the light of transformation and industrialization of agriculture. The specific objectives were (i) To describe contractual arrangement found in the study area (ii) To examine the role of contractual arrangement in reducing tra...