As improved cookstove programs increase in popularity, policy makers need accurate estimates of their constituents’ willingness to pay for the stoves. Knowing which socioeconomic factors affect willingness to pay will allow program planners to price and target the stoves effectively. This study elicits the willingness to pay of 300 rural Malawians in Dedza District for two types of stove and explores the determinant socioeconomic factors. Respondents were willing to pay a median price of 7 USD for a clay stove and 9 USD for a rocket stove. In the clay stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with dietary diversity and negatively correlated with fuel expenditure. In the rocket stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with net household income and dietary diversity, and negatively correlated with higher incidence of cooking-related ailments. A literature review reveals that because of the discrepancy between short-term and long-term impacts of improved cookstove adoption, the focus of stove programs should be sustained, proper stove use by adopters, not just dissemination. Positive impact estimates are inflated when only short-term adoption data and laboratory fuel test results are used; more long-term impact evaluations are needed. Further, the study of socioeconomic determinants of stove adoption alone is inadequate for a self-sustaining, unsubsidized improved cookstove market. Choice elicitation experiment studies on product-specific attributes, that is stove characteristics, should complement socioeconomic findings to determine what is most desired by the target market.
{"title":"Smallholder Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Cookstoves in Dedza, Malawi","authors":"E. McNulty, Thea Nielsen, M. Zeller","doi":"10.12691/AJRD-5-3-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12691/AJRD-5-3-3","url":null,"abstract":"As improved cookstove programs increase in popularity, policy makers need accurate estimates of their constituents’ willingness to pay for the stoves. Knowing which socioeconomic factors affect willingness to pay will allow program planners to price and target the stoves effectively. This study elicits the willingness to pay of 300 rural Malawians in Dedza District for two types of stove and explores the determinant socioeconomic factors. Respondents were willing to pay a median price of 7 USD for a clay stove and 9 USD for a rocket stove. In the clay stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with dietary diversity and negatively correlated with fuel expenditure. In the rocket stove regression model, willingness to pay is positively correlated with net household income and dietary diversity, and negatively correlated with higher incidence of cooking-related ailments. A literature review reveals that because of the discrepancy between short-term and long-term impacts of improved cookstove adoption, the focus of stove programs should be sustained, proper stove use by adopters, not just dissemination. Positive impact estimates are inflated when only short-term adoption data and laboratory fuel test results are used; more long-term impact evaluations are needed. Further, the study of socioeconomic determinants of stove adoption alone is inadequate for a self-sustaining, unsubsidized improved cookstove market. Choice elicitation experiment studies on product-specific attributes, that is stove characteristics, should complement socioeconomic findings to determine what is most desired by the target market.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"1 1","pages":"73-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84131793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines land governance in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor in Rukwa and Katavi regions in Tanzania. The four districts involved include Sumbawanga, Kalambo, Nkasi and Mpanda. Land governance and the management of related conflicts were assessed in views of the roles of local government and the challenges posed by policy and legal frameworks. Using a sample size of 270 smallholder farmers, a household survey was used to collect quantitative data, while qualitative data were collected from 74 Focus Group Discussions’ participants. The results confirmed the ‘legal dualism’ that embraces colonial policy and laws on land issues at local level despite the land reforms that have had taken place in Tanzania. In addition, land conflict was a common phenomenon. The results also show that the efforts of local governments, and other stakeholders, to manage land conflicts were hampered by serious challenges. The challenges include incapacitation of the local government with regard to legal issues, lack of education and unawareness of the policies and legal framework on the part of the citizenry. These resulted into ineffective implementation of informal and formal arrangements governing land issues. Ineffective land governance, in turn, stem from inadequate capacity to resolve land conflicts. This justifies poor land governance. To that effect, concerted efforts are needed to correct the situation.
{"title":"Land Governance and Conflict Management in Tanzania: Institutional Capacity and Policy-Legal Framework Challenges","authors":"P. John, S. Kabote","doi":"10.12691/AJRD-5-2-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12691/AJRD-5-2-3","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines land governance in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor in Rukwa and Katavi regions in Tanzania. The four districts involved include Sumbawanga, Kalambo, Nkasi and Mpanda. Land governance and the management of related conflicts were assessed in views of the roles of local government and the challenges posed by policy and legal frameworks. Using a sample size of 270 smallholder farmers, a household survey was used to collect quantitative data, while qualitative data were collected from 74 Focus Group Discussions’ participants. The results confirmed the ‘legal dualism’ that embraces colonial policy and laws on land issues at local level despite the land reforms that have had taken place in Tanzania. In addition, land conflict was a common phenomenon. The results also show that the efforts of local governments, and other stakeholders, to manage land conflicts were hampered by serious challenges. The challenges include incapacitation of the local government with regard to legal issues, lack of education and unawareness of the policies and legal framework on the part of the citizenry. These resulted into ineffective implementation of informal and formal arrangements governing land issues. Ineffective land governance, in turn, stem from inadequate capacity to resolve land conflicts. This justifies poor land governance. To that effect, concerted efforts are needed to correct the situation.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"46-54"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85660166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Water security has been associated with myriad health concerns. However, measures of access to water vary and may not reflect reality or user priorities, affecting our understanding of the effect of water security on health. This study aimed to: 1) examine relationships between established measures and perceived access to water; and 2) compare the ability of established measures versus a perceived measure to predict health outcomes. Data collection included baseline anthropometrics, bi-monthly morbidity histories, and a final survey over a four-month period among 100 households in Uganda’s rural, semi-arid savannah. Hierarchical regression models were fitted to test relationships. Despite low water security, 68% of participants did not report illness. Perceptions of better access was significantly associated with fewer minutes walking to source and, surprisingly, with fewer litres collected yesterday/person. Perceived better access (β=-0.09, p<0.10) and more public ownership (β =-0.09, p<0.10) were associated with lower percentage time ill. Both effects were small. Understanding of the drivers of perceived water access may provide useful insights into social dimensions of water security, which may influence health.
{"title":"Perceived Access to Water: Associations with Health in Rural Uganda","authors":"A. Pearson, Amanda Rzotkiewicz, Judith Namanya","doi":"10.12691/AJRD-5-3-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12691/AJRD-5-3-1","url":null,"abstract":"Water security has been associated with myriad health concerns. However, measures of access to water vary and may not reflect reality or user priorities, affecting our understanding of the effect of water security on health. This study aimed to: 1) examine relationships between established measures and perceived access to water; and 2) compare the ability of established measures versus a perceived measure to predict health outcomes. Data collection included baseline anthropometrics, bi-monthly morbidity histories, and a final survey over a four-month period among 100 households in Uganda’s rural, semi-arid savannah. Hierarchical regression models were fitted to test relationships. Despite low water security, 68% of participants did not report illness. Perceptions of better access was significantly associated with fewer minutes walking to source and, surprisingly, with fewer litres collected yesterday/person. Perceived better access (β=-0.09, p<0.10) and more public ownership (β =-0.09, p<0.10) were associated with lower percentage time ill. Both effects were small. Understanding of the drivers of perceived water access may provide useful insights into social dimensions of water security, which may influence health.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"5 1","pages":"55-64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87225318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the potential of land consolidation for dealing with land fragmentation in Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) rural customary lands – where the intention is to increase food productivity. In SSA’s customary lands, the use of mechanized farming technology and intensive farming techniques have largely failed to increase food productivity. This is despite foreign investment and the interest of the farmers to do so. In many cases, neither the farm parcel structure nor the land tenure arrangements support the use of, or investment in, mechanized equipment. This implies a strong need to deal with the land fragmentation situation. Although land consolidation is argued as an effective response to land fragmentation; its application in SSA’s customary lands has either not been successful, or it has ended up breaking down the customary land tenure arrangements. We argue that past attempts at land consolidation in SSA’s customary lands have failed mainly due to the transfer of European strategies without adequate consideration for the local factors in the planning and implementation, as well as inadequate land information. Land consolidation strategies in Europe have shown that responsible approaches continually considered the changing local factors. There has been a recent push for more responsible approaches to land reform and planning activities that consider social, cultural, and economic factors that were previously not considered. In this paper, the nature and causes of land fragmentation in customary lands will first be explored, then current approaches seeking to increase farm productivity are reviewed. Analysing the problems of land fragmentation in customary lands, the failure to adapt land consolidation approaches in customary lands in the past, and the potential of participatory land administration as an enabling tool, we conclude that responsible approaches are an important component of increasing food productivity in sub-Saharan Africa.
{"title":"Land Consolidation for Sub-Saharan Africa’s Customary Lands: The Need for Responsible Approaches","authors":"K. Asiama, R. Bennett, J. Zevenbergen","doi":"10.12691/AJRD-5-2-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12691/AJRD-5-2-2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the potential of land consolidation for dealing with land fragmentation in Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) rural customary lands – where the intention is to increase food productivity. In SSA’s customary lands, the use of mechanized farming technology and intensive farming techniques have largely failed to increase food productivity. This is despite foreign investment and the interest of the farmers to do so. In many cases, neither the farm parcel structure nor the land tenure arrangements support the use of, or investment in, mechanized equipment. This implies a strong need to deal with the land fragmentation situation. Although land consolidation is argued as an effective response to land fragmentation; its application in SSA’s customary lands has either not been successful, or it has ended up breaking down the customary land tenure arrangements. We argue that past attempts at land consolidation in SSA’s customary lands have failed mainly due to the transfer of European strategies without adequate consideration for the local factors in the planning and implementation, as well as inadequate land information. Land consolidation strategies in Europe have shown that responsible approaches continually considered the changing local factors. There has been a recent push for more responsible approaches to land reform and planning activities that consider social, cultural, and economic factors that were previously not considered. In this paper, the nature and causes of land fragmentation in customary lands will first be explored, then current approaches seeking to increase farm productivity are reviewed. Analysing the problems of land fragmentation in customary lands, the failure to adapt land consolidation approaches in customary lands in the past, and the potential of participatory land administration as an enabling tool, we conclude that responsible approaches are an important component of increasing food productivity in sub-Saharan Africa.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"263 1","pages":"39-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73353416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Muhindo Iragi, J. M. Mwanjalolo, Alice Amonding Katushabe, Jean Walangululu Masamba, Bossissi Nkuba
Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the five most important staple foods in South-Kivu, with high and increasing demand. The gap between the demand and supply has led to increased importation of rice in the region. Changes in climate are likely to further worsen this gap. This study determined the impact of future climate on paddy rice yield in high altitude plateau and semi-arid Lowland plain of South Kivu region. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator Model (APSIM) was used to simulate the impact of climate change scenarios -two periods: Mid and end-century, and for two Representative Concentration Pathways: 4.5 and 8.5- on rice yield. Based on the APSIM, rice grain yield is projected to increase with climate change in high altitude plateau while in the semi-arid lowland plain a slight increase in grain yield followed by a decline is projected in the end-century under RCP 8.5. These findings have potential to compliment rice farmers increase their coping capacity against climate change especially in semi-arid lowland plain where negative impacts are projected.
{"title":"Projected impact of climate change on rice yield in two agro-ecological zones in South- Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo","authors":"Daniel Muhindo Iragi, J. M. Mwanjalolo, Alice Amonding Katushabe, Jean Walangululu Masamba, Bossissi Nkuba","doi":"10.22004/ag.econ.263431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.263431","url":null,"abstract":"Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the five most important staple foods in South-Kivu, with high and increasing demand. The gap between the demand and supply has led to increased importation of rice in the region. Changes in climate are likely to further worsen this gap. This study determined the impact of future climate on paddy rice yield in high altitude plateau and semi-arid Lowland plain of South Kivu region. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator Model (APSIM) was used to simulate the impact of climate change scenarios -two periods: Mid and end-century, and for two Representative Concentration Pathways: 4.5 and 8.5- on rice yield. Based on the APSIM, rice grain yield is projected to increase with climate change in high altitude plateau while in the semi-arid lowland plain a slight increase in grain yield followed by a decline is projected in the end-century under RCP 8.5. These findings have potential to compliment rice farmers increase their coping capacity against climate change especially in semi-arid lowland plain where negative impacts are projected.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"1 1","pages":"293-304"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89461012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper asserts problematic frames of reference among community members and the breakdown in community wide dialogue as key contributing factors towards the slow pace in rural development and social change. The frames of reference are considered problematic partly because they influence community members to view development programmes negatively. It is argued that transformative learning through dialogue enhances sustainable social change. The praxis for facilitating community wide transformational learning was explored using a mixed methods research methodology with the Mhakwe Comprehensive Community Initiative in Zimbabwe as a case study. Qualitative data were collected from action research, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Quantitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire following a multi stage stratified sampling procedure (n=65). Based on the findings, key enablers for transformative learning include: addressing community polarity; creating communicative space; refining Frames of Reference; and developing dialogue infrastructure. Transformative learning was found to be enhanced through creating positive energy and leveraging indigenous knowledge. The study concludes that development institutions need to embrace transformative learning as a strategy for sustainable social change.
{"title":"Facilitating transformative learning for community development: Experiences from Zimbabwe","authors":"Tirivanhu Precious","doi":"10.22004/AG.ECON.263428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.263428","url":null,"abstract":"This paper asserts problematic frames of reference among community members and the breakdown in community wide dialogue as key contributing factors towards the slow pace in rural development and social change. The frames of reference are considered problematic partly because they influence community members to view development programmes negatively. It is argued that transformative learning through dialogue enhances sustainable social change. The praxis for facilitating community wide transformational learning was explored using a mixed methods research methodology with the Mhakwe Comprehensive Community Initiative in Zimbabwe as a case study. Qualitative data were collected from action research, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Quantitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire following a multi stage stratified sampling procedure (n=65). Based on the findings, key enablers for transformative learning include: addressing community polarity; creating communicative space; refining Frames of Reference; and developing dialogue infrastructure. Transformative learning was found to be enhanced through creating positive energy and leveraging indigenous knowledge. The study concludes that development institutions need to embrace transformative learning as a strategy for sustainable social change.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"77 1","pages":"255-270"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73759945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A survey was employed to gather the primary data needed to assess how relationship lending affect the collateral that must be pledged by the maize farmer borrowers when taking credit from financial institutions. The farmers were selected from 8 districts in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana. Multi-stage purposive and randomized sampling technique was used to sample 380 maize farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate collateral and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents while logit regression analysis was used to measure the effects of relationship lending on collateral used to secure loans taken by maize farmers. The results revealed farmer’s access to information has a reverse and significant with the collateral used to secure loans .multiple banking relationships is significant and directly related to the collateral used by farmers. The previous loan repayment behavior inversely affects the collateral pledge and is significant. Farmers who have investments with the bank are able to argue for lower or no collateral since those investments are used as securities. This explains the negative relationship with the collateral pledge. Thus farmers are encouraged to build more relationship with their banks in the form of investments, good repayments, getting more information minimizing the number of banks they deal with.
{"title":"Collateral Pledge: Does Relationship Lending Matters? The Case of Maize Farmers in Ghana","authors":"Stephen Antwi, Kwasi Ohene-Yankyira","doi":"10.12691/AJRD-5-2-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12691/AJRD-5-2-1","url":null,"abstract":"A survey was employed to gather the primary data needed to assess how relationship lending affect the collateral that must be pledged by the maize farmer borrowers when taking credit from financial institutions. The farmers were selected from 8 districts in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana. Multi-stage purposive and randomized sampling technique was used to sample 380 maize farmers. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate collateral and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents while logit regression analysis was used to measure the effects of relationship lending on collateral used to secure loans taken by maize farmers. The results revealed farmer’s access to information has a reverse and significant with the collateral used to secure loans .multiple banking relationships is significant and directly related to the collateral used by farmers. The previous loan repayment behavior inversely affects the collateral pledge and is significant. Farmers who have investments with the bank are able to argue for lower or no collateral since those investments are used as securities. This explains the negative relationship with the collateral pledge. Thus farmers are encouraged to build more relationship with their banks in the form of investments, good repayments, getting more information minimizing the number of banks they deal with.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"86 1","pages":"30-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84361132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fred Ojulong Henry, Leta Elias, Sakwera Loveness, Ziwa Rukwa, M. Frida, S. Patrick, Kibuka Joseph, Otwani Daniel, A. Patrick, M. Mary, Manyasa Emmanuel
Participatory variety selection (PVS) is an approach which provides a wide choice of varieties to farmers to evaluate in their own environment using their own resources for increasing production. It enhances farmer’s access to diverse crop varieties, increases production and ensures food security and helps faster dissemination and adoption of pre and released varieties. It allows varietal selection in targeted areas at cost-effective and timely manner and helps promotion of community seed production and community seed banks. Therefore, a variety developed through PVS usually meets demand of different stakeholders. Farmers in Singida and Iramba districts in central Tanzania were found to be growing land races which were low yielding, long maturing, drought and disease susceptible, as no variety had previously been released in Tanzania. Through PVS a broader choice of varieties that matched farmer needs in adaptation and quality traits was offered for evaluation. As such PVS was used to introduce, evaluate, release and promote for adoption finger millet varieties in Central and Northern Tanzania. Farmers selected and adopted new varieties of a higher utility (a combination of improved agronomic traits, higher yield, and improved quality). Through PVS Tanzania released her first finger millet varieties (U15 and P224). Adoption of the varieties was very high as farmers associated with the varieties; and affordable high quality seed was made available as Quality Declared Seed (QDS) produced by the target farmer groups. Preferred traits differed between the gender groups; women preferred risk averting traits like short duration, drought tolerance, compact heads and disease resistance while male preferred market related traits (high yield, brown colour and big head.
{"title":"Participatory Variety Selection for enhanced promotion and adoption of improved finger millet varieties: A case for Singida and Iramba Districts in Central Tanzania.","authors":"Fred Ojulong Henry, Leta Elias, Sakwera Loveness, Ziwa Rukwa, M. Frida, S. Patrick, Kibuka Joseph, Otwani Daniel, A. Patrick, M. Mary, Manyasa Emmanuel","doi":"10.22004/AG.ECON.263302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.263302","url":null,"abstract":"Participatory variety selection (PVS) is an approach which provides a wide choice of varieties to \u0000farmers to evaluate in their own environment using their own resources for increasing production. \u0000It enhances farmer’s access to diverse crop varieties, increases production and ensures food security \u0000and helps faster dissemination and adoption of pre and released varieties. It allows varietal selection \u0000in targeted areas at cost-effective and timely manner and helps promotion of community seed \u0000production and community seed banks. Therefore, a variety developed through PVS usually meets \u0000demand of different stakeholders. Farmers in Singida and Iramba districts in central Tanzania were \u0000found to be growing land races which were low yielding, long maturing, drought and disease susceptible, \u0000as no variety had previously been released in Tanzania. Through PVS a broader choice of varieties \u0000that matched farmer needs in adaptation and quality traits was offered for evaluation. As such PVS was \u0000used to introduce, evaluate, release and promote for adoption finger millet varieties in Central and \u0000Northern Tanzania. Farmers selected and adopted new varieties of a higher utility (a combination of \u0000improved agronomic traits, higher yield, and improved quality). Through PVS Tanzania released \u0000her first finger millet varieties (U15 and P224). Adoption of the varieties was very high as farmers \u0000associated with the varieties; and affordable high quality seed was made available as Quality Declared \u0000Seed (QDS) produced by the target farmer groups. Preferred traits differed between the gender groups; \u0000women preferred risk averting traits like short duration, drought tolerance, compact heads and \u0000disease resistance while male preferred market related traits (high yield, brown colour and big head.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"10 1","pages":"77-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88701727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Innovative Agricultural Research Initiative (iAGRI) is a long-term investment in agricultural higher education and research capacity in Tanzania funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by The Ohio State University in conjunction with five other U.S. land grant universities and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). Although University contributions to sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa have been well documented, for the past several decades, donors and national governments have neglected agricultural higher education institutions. The main goal of the iAGRI project is to improve food security and agricultural productivity in Tanzania by strengthening the training and collaborative research capacities of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) and has four major objectives:1) implementing a program of collaborative agriculture research with SUA and MALF; 2) providing advanced degree training in agriculture for Tanzanian graduate students; 3) strengthening the capacity of SUA to develop and implement instructional, research and outreach programs; and 4) promoting cooperation between SUA, U.S. universities, and global south universities. The paper summarizes outcomes of the degree training, collaborative research and institutional strengthening efforts and innovative approaches to institutional capacity development (ICD). iAGRI granted scholarships to 139 Tanzanians to pursue graduate degrees in the agricultural sciences, with half studying at U.S. universities and half studying at RUFORUM affiliated universities in Africa and India. Nearly half of the candidates were women. Although human capacity development (HCD) is important, it is not a substitute for ICD. Approaches used to promote ICD are discussed including improved planning processes, organizational experiments, and promotion of innovations and linkages to the private sector.
{"title":"Improving the capacity of Agricultural Higher Education Institutions to contribute to food security: the iAGRI experience and lessons learned","authors":"K. David, E. Mark, Minde Isaac, H. David","doi":"10.22004/AG.ECON.263295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.263295","url":null,"abstract":"The Innovative Agricultural Research Initiative (iAGRI) is a long-term investment in agricultural higher education and research capacity in Tanzania funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by The Ohio State University in conjunction with five other U.S. land grant universities and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). Although University contributions to sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa have been well documented, for the past several decades, donors and national governments have neglected agricultural higher education institutions. The main goal of the iAGRI project is to improve food security and agricultural productivity in Tanzania by strengthening the training and collaborative research capacities of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) and has four major objectives:1) implementing a program of collaborative agriculture research with SUA and MALF; 2) providing advanced degree training in agriculture for Tanzanian graduate students; 3) strengthening the capacity of SUA to develop and implement instructional, research and outreach programs; and 4) promoting cooperation between SUA, U.S. universities, and global south universities. The paper summarizes outcomes of the degree training, collaborative research and institutional strengthening efforts and innovative approaches to institutional capacity development (ICD). iAGRI granted scholarships to 139 Tanzanians to pursue graduate degrees in the agricultural sciences, with half studying at U.S. universities and half studying at RUFORUM affiliated universities in Africa and India. Nearly half of the candidates were women. Although human capacity development (HCD) is important, it is not a substitute for ICD. Approaches used to promote ICD are discussed including improved planning processes, organizational experiments, and promotion of innovations and linkages to the private sector.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74853923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mots’ets’e Motseko, Esther Mapeshoane Botle, Masopha Makoae, M. Khoeli, N. Tumelo, Mokhatla Mohlamatsane, Gerard Rasekoele Motlalepula
Wetland hydrology is important in understanding wetland systems, evaluating wetland functions and processes and assessing wetland conditions. Wetlands assimilate and transform pollutants and nutrients ensuring that quality water is discharged from the wetland into streams. The objective of this study was to characterise wetland hydrology and evaluate the water quality so as to determine the ecological functioning of the Khalong-la-Lithunya wetland. Wetland hydrology and water quality of the three sub-catchments were monitored from October 2015 to March 2016. Water levels in piezometers were recorded once a month and monthly water levels data for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 previously recorded by the Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho (MCA-L) project were integrated to this study’s data. Rainfall, piezometer and stream water were similarly obtained once every month. These were analysed for δ2H and δ18O water stable isotopes and water quality parameters determined. The estimated overall hydro-period of Khalong-la-Lithunya from the years 2010 to 2016 was 11.4% of the sampled time. The wetland showed delayed response of piezometer water levels to rainfall and additional source of water to the wetland through sub-surface flow. The isotopic composition of piezometer and stream water showed that the water gets stored in the wetland before being discharged to the stream leading to a positive interaction between ground and surface water. Most water quality parameters (Na, pH, Mg, PO4 , COD, BOD, NO3, K, Ca, EC) were higher in streams than in piezometers and were mostly within WHO permissible limits. There was a poorer water quality index in streams (59.71) when compared to that of piezometers (53.67). The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the parameters that were responsible for the variation in water quality were related to natural hydro-chemical processes, anthropogenic factors and geology and soil constituents. Temporally most parameters were highest during dry months. Due to a short hydro-period, a delayed interaction between surface and ground water and a poorer stream water quality index, it is concluded that the wetland was not in a good condition. Thus, it is not adequately performing its ecological function.
{"title":"Characterising wetland hydrology and water quality in streams and wetlands of Khalong-la-Lithunya, Lesotho","authors":"Mots’ets’e Motseko, Esther Mapeshoane Botle, Masopha Makoae, M. Khoeli, N. Tumelo, Mokhatla Mohlamatsane, Gerard Rasekoele Motlalepula","doi":"10.22004/AG.ECON.263402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22004/AG.ECON.263402","url":null,"abstract":"Wetland hydrology is important in understanding wetland systems, evaluating wetland functions and processes and assessing wetland conditions. Wetlands assimilate and transform pollutants and nutrients ensuring that quality water is discharged from the wetland into streams. The objective of this study was to characterise wetland hydrology and evaluate the water quality so as to determine the ecological functioning of the Khalong-la-Lithunya wetland. Wetland hydrology and water quality of the three sub-catchments were monitored from October 2015 to March 2016. Water levels in piezometers were recorded once a month and monthly water levels data for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 previously recorded by the Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho (MCA-L) project were integrated to this study’s data. Rainfall, piezometer and stream water were similarly obtained once every month. These were analysed for δ2H and δ18O water stable isotopes and water quality parameters determined. The estimated overall hydro-period of Khalong-la-Lithunya from the years 2010 to 2016 was 11.4% of the sampled time. The wetland showed delayed response of piezometer water levels to rainfall and additional source of water to the wetland through sub-surface flow. The isotopic composition of piezometer and stream water showed that the water gets stored in the wetland before being discharged to the stream leading to a positive interaction between ground and surface water. Most water quality parameters (Na, pH, Mg, PO4 , COD, BOD, NO3, K, Ca, EC) were higher in streams than in piezometers and were mostly within WHO permissible limits. There was a poorer water quality index in streams (59.71) when compared to that of piezometers (53.67). The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the parameters that were responsible for the variation in water quality were related to natural hydro-chemical processes, anthropogenic factors and geology and soil constituents. Temporally most parameters were highest during dry months. Due to a short hydro-period, a delayed interaction between surface and ground water and a poorer stream water quality index, it is concluded that the wetland was not in a good condition. Thus, it is not adequately performing its ecological function.","PeriodicalId":45379,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural and Community Development","volume":"10 1","pages":"117-125"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72527407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}