ABSTRACT Radio is an important extension tool that can be used in sharing agricultural information with smallholder farmers in rural areas inexpensively. The use of vernacular in radio broadcasts makes programmes more acceptable to rural farmers and may be used to supplement public extension. However, the role of private vernacular radio stations in disseminating agricultural messages, the approaches they use, the challenges they face and the opportunities they offer farmers in Kericho West S...
ABSTRACT The study was conducted to determine the quantity of timber and extent of illegal timber harvesting in Eastern Arc Mountains. Data were collected using three techniques: desktop review which was used to collect information on timber stocks from two studies in EAMs while socio-economic and ecological surveys were employed to collect information on timber disturbances and timber stocks harvested illegally in NFR. Data analysis involved use of Microsoft excel and Statistical Package fo...
ABSTRACT The broad objective of the study was to analyze the economics of soil conservation practices in Enugu State. This study employed multistage random sampling technique for selecting the respondents. First stage involved simple random selection of one local government area from each of the three (3) agricultural zones. Then three (3) farming communities were selected from each of the three selected local government areas. This gave a total of nine (9) communities for the study. Secondl...
ABSTRACT Tissue culture technology was developed, and disseminated to farmers with active participation of actors along the value chain. However, the potential benefits of the technology are yet to be achieved. This is attributed to diverse challenges that have not been addressed. This study was designed to contribute to this information gap. Primary farm household and trader data were collected through a survey carried out in 2012. Multistage sampling approach was used to select counties, su...
ABSTRACT The main objective of this study was to assess the opportunity costs of REDD+ to the communities of Mufindi District. The specific objectives were, to identify and assess the economic value of alternative land use, the aboveground carbon stock of the sampled forest (Idewa Forest Reserve) under PFM, the profitability of each land use and compare with the REDD+ incentives, and the willingness to accept (WTA) of the communities towards REDD+. Structured and semi structured questionnair...
ABSTRACT Improvement of cowpea, pigeonpea and sorghum can be enhanced by knowledge of genetic diversity available between and within accessions. This variability is the foundation of all three crop improvement programs. A total of 85 accessions as 22 cowpea, 32 pigeonpea and 31 sorghum from Tanzania and Kenya gene banks were used for this study. Quantitative and qualitative traits such as, grain color, grain coverage, seed shape, days to 50% flowering, plant height, days to 50% maturity and ...
ABSTRACT This study was done to determine the role of warehouse receipt system (WRS) in improving cashewnuts marketing by smallholder farmers in Mkinga district. The specific objectives were to assess the operations of WRS in improving cashewnuts marketing, to determine share of consumer price received by smallholder farmer when selling cashewnuts through WRS or through informal marketing channel and to determine factors influencing smallholder marketing choices among WRS and informal market...
ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to analyze resource productivity in ornamental plants production within Jos metropolis of Nigeria. The study covered Jos North and Jos South local government areas. The specific objectives include: identifying the effect of socio-economic factors on resource productivity, determining costs and returns, and resource productivity in ornamental plants production. An extensive literature review was carried out to provide an indepth knowledge of the study. The c...
ABSTRACT Perceptions guides decision making and eventually determines the actions to be made by farmers on climate change adaptation. This study analyzed how farmers perceive cassava as climate change crop, determinants of farmer’s perception and also estimated the share of cassava to total household income in Kigoma Region. A multistage random sampling procedure was used to select a total of 140 household heads for analysis. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and key infor...
ABSTRACT Quality protein maize (QPM) contains nearly twice as much usable protein more than normal maize. Since 2001 QPM varieties have been disseminated in the country to small scale farmers for production and adoption. The thrust of this study was to determine the adoption of (QPM) technology and examine the factors that influence its adoption by farmers. Primary data was collected from randomly selected 120 smallholder maize farmers in four villages of northern Tanzania (Babati and Hai) d...
ABSTRACT A study was conducted in which two strains of the fast-growing bean rhizobia- PV1 and PV2 and two others of the slow-growing bradyrhizobia for cowpeas and soybean- CP1 & GM8, respectively, were used to test their ability to: - (a) proliferate in copper contaminated liquid media, (b) survive in copper contaminated soil, (c) nodulate respective host legumes and (d) fix nitrogen under increasing copper levels both in vitro and in vivo. Known population sizes of each of the strains were...
ABSTRACT Rice yields in developing countries in general and specifically in Tanzania remain low due to limited adoption of new innovations by smallholder rice farmers. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is believed to have promising potential for increasing rice yields. However, the factors influencing the adoption decisions as well as adoption impacts have been a subject of debate. This study was conducted to analyse the adoption of SRI and its impact on rice yields in Mbarali Distri...
ABSTRACT This work examines the access and use of information communication technologies (ICT) among rural farmers in Enugu State. It is the contention of this study that there is a lacuna between access and usage of ICT among the rural farmers in Enugu state and generally in Nigeria. This study applauds the impact of ICT in enhancing the agricultural productivity in Nigeria especially as it concerns the rural communities. However, this work is designed to ascertain types of ICTs available t...
ABSTRACT Mangrove ecosystems play crucial role in protection of coastlines. Apart from this most people living adjacent to these ecosystems depend on this resource to meet basic socio-economic needs and livelihoods. Though Joint Forest Management has been practiced in mangrove ecosystem for a significant period now little if any is quantitatively documented on the contribution of mangrove products to the livelihoods of communities. This study aimed at identifying and assessing the existing ...
ABSTRACT Sorghum smut disease is one of the serious constrain in sorghum production especially when seeds are not treated before planting, where grain yield loss of up to 80% is reported in different parts of the world. A study was conducted to increase the potential of sorghum productivity by enhancing smut disease management in Central Zone of Tanzania. The field experiment was laid out in 6 x 4 (Sorghum varieties x fungicides) factorial in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with fo...