Managing a small scale plantation

Agriculture is gradually taking a new turn in many developing countries. More and more traditional farmers are engaging in semi-commercial ventures. So, farmers need to improve their knowledge of farm management techniques. Farm anagement deals with decision making and problems at the farm level, regardless of size or type of farm. Both small-scale and plantation farmers require a basic understanding of farm management to undertake viable farm ventures. a Small-scale Plantation is a teaching manual aimed at showing important, basic concepts of farm management for the smallholder, in traditional and commercial farming conditions. It can also serve as an elementary introductory teaching manual for students of agriculture, and extension officers. The manual is devoted to basic concepts of farm management a tool for decision making, record keeping, farm enterprises analyses, simple farm accounting, and budgeting. Unlike most traditional text books, this is written in simple English, involving simple mathematical procedures, and layout. With this in mind, the authors hope that farmers from all walks of life, extension officers, and students learn and apply the basic principles of farm management, to whatever they do. The originality of our presentation is derived from our diverse ideas, background and experience in the South Pacific Region. However, we acknowledge the ideas of friends, participants and students who were instrumental in shaping our original ideas. We are also indebted to the Government of Vanuatu, who, through the Department of Agriculture and the University of the South Pacific Centre in Vanuatu, provided the venue for the regional workshop on this subject. Our special thanks go to the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation for its sponsorship, and in particular Dr. T.M. Narain, CTA Technical adviser, for his support. we extend appreciation to the Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture of the University of the South Pacific, through which the training workshops are organised.This manual is devoted to basic concepts of farm management a tool for decision making, record keeping, farm enterprises analyses, simple farm accounting, and budgeting

FDI Determinants and the effect of FDI on Economic Growth of the East African Community (EAC)

This thesis comprises of three self-contained analytical chapters. We attempt to answer three key research questions on the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI), FDI-growth nexus and income convergence in the East African Community (EAC) region. Below are our three key research questions: 1. What are the determinants of FDI to the EAC region? 2. Does FDI contribute to the aggregate economic performance of the EAC region and what is the effect of FDI on the ratio tradeable output to non-tradeable output? Also, what is the contribution of ratio tradeable output to non-tradeable output on the economic growth of the EAC region? 3. Did the EAC region experience income and FDI convergence during the study period? We are motivated to understand the key driver of FDI to the EAC region. These member countries have continued to witness an increase in the FDI activities from 1970 to 2017. Therefore, we want to investigate if the EAC member countries received market, efficiency or resource-seek FDI (Breham, 1972). Understanding these FDI types enable policy makers to attract the right FDI type that plays significant positive role on the host EAC region. Most study suggests that market seeking FDI has greater productivity spilover to local firms than resource or efficiency-seeking FDI (Borenzstein, et al. 1998). Also, data from Bank of Uganda and Bank of Rwanda shows that most FDI goes to service sector followed by manufacturing and with fewer foreign direct investment channelled to agricultural sector. The disparity of sectoral FDI to service, manufacturing and agricultural sector motivated us to empirically assess the sectoral role of FDI, and in addition to studying the contribution of different sectoral output on the economic growth of the EAC region. To achieve our research objectives, we applied location theory to gain better understanding of different motives of FDI (i.e., market–seeking, resource–seeking, and efficiency–seeking FDI) to the EAC. Location theory is favoured because of it is easy to apply in context to our study, and more flexible to accommodate different variable of interests. In terms of the economic growth, our analytical framework is based on Solow (1956) growth model. The model allows us to empiricall capture the role of FDI on economic performance of the EAC region, in addition to assessing the income and FDI convergence in the region. Our research objectives are based on lack of studies on the FDI determinants, FDI-growth nexus and income and FDI convergence in the EAC region. Therefore, our thesis seeks to fill the gap in the current literatures in the field of economic development. The data used in our study of the FDI determinants, FDI – growth nexus, and income convergence was mainly sourced from the World Bank database. These datasets range from 1970 – 2017. In addition, the bilateral FDI data from the year 2000 – 2017 that shows FDI from the UK to the rest of the EAC region (i.e., Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda) were sourced from the UNCTAD database. The report from our empirical investigation on the FDI determinants to the EAC region shows that the region received market, efficiency, and resource seeking FDI in the long-run vis-à-vis short-run period. And that resource and efficiency–seeking FDI are only attracted to the region in the face of trade liberalization. In terms of growth impact, empirical evidence indicates that FDI insignificantly contributes to economic growth at both aggregate and sectoral level. Furthermore, the study reveals that service sector output (the non-tradeable output) significantly supports economic growth of the EAC region from 1970 –2017 vis-à- vis the tradeable output (manufacture and agricultural sector output). We argue that this could be due to large amount of FDI flows to the non-tradable sector compared to the tradeable sector. Finally, considering convergence, our study shows that from 1970 – 2017, FDI insignificantly supported beta convergence process in the region. Also, bilateral FDI data from the UK to the rest of the EAC region indicate that, from 2000 – 2017, bilateral FDI significantly contributed to beta and sigma convergence in the long-run. Conversely, we found insignificant short-run effect of bilateral FDI on beta and sigma convergence. Unsparingly, when language similarity is accounted for in our study, the result shows that income levels between the EAC region and the UK significantly reduces. We argue that language similarity promote trade and investment, in addition to facilitating technology transfer between the UK and the EAC region during the study period. Furthermore, there was evidence of stochastic FDI convergence in the region from 2000 – 2017. We concluded our study by offering policy recommendations guided by our empirical evidence, coupled with the review of relevant empirical and theoretical literatures

Global assessment of manure management policies and practices

In 2014 an assessment of livestock manure policies was performed in 34 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, followed by an in-depth assessment of manure management practices in Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Malawi, Argentina and Costa Rica. The assessments revealed the key barriers for improving integrated manure management and identified six opportunities for actual practice changes to improve manure related policies as well as farm practices with the overall objective of improving food security while mitigating methane emissions at the same tim

Adverse impact of banana Xanthomonas Wilt on farmers’ livelihoods in Eastern and Central Africa

Banana is a key crop in the livelihoods of many people in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa. For more than a decade now, the crop has been threatened by Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) which has spread throughout the region but at different rates. The disease attacks all banana cultivars and can cause up to 100% yield losses at farm level if effective control measures are not put in place. However, limited information on impact of BXW at regional level is available to guide interventions. Thus, this study assessed the impact of BXW on farmers’ livelihoods in Kagera basin of Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. A total of 436 households (Tanzania 120, Burundi 208 and Rwanda 108) mostly from major banana-producing and BXW-affected districts were sampled and interviewed in a household survey. Thirty-three to seventy-five of the total banana mats per farm in the three countries were infected with BXW. Banana production losses caused by BXW were valued at US$10.2 million and US$ 2.95 million in Tanzania and Rwanda, respectively, banana sales by farmers dropped by 35% while bunch prices unpredictably doubled. Since banana is a key component of these farming communities, the banana production losses resulted in significant reduction in household food security and incomes. To cope with these challenges, most households are diversifying into other food crops such as maize, cassava and sweet potatoes. This poses a number of socio-economic and biological implications that require further investigation

Vitamin B12 deficiency among adult diabetic patients in Uganda: relation to glycaemic control and haemoglobin concentration

BACKGROUND: Vitamin B12 deficiency is highly prevalent among adult individuals with diabetes yet screening is infrequent in Uganda. There are currently no published data regarding the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency and its associated factors among adult individuals with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at describing the prevalence and factors associated with vitamin B12 deficiency among this patient population in a resource constrained setting in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 280 eligible study participants attending the outpatient diabetic clinic at Mulago national referral and teaching hospital in Kampala, Uganda were enrolled. Their socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. RESULTS: The majority of the study participants were female (68.9 %), with a median age of 50 (IQR: 40-58) years. The mean (SD) serum vitamin B12 levels was 472.0 (16.4) pg/ml. The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency was 10.7 %. Hemoglobin level < 12 g/dl (AOR 3.38; 95 % CI 1.38-8.32, p value = 0.008) and glycated hemoglobin ≥ 7 % (AOR 3.29; 1.44-7.51, p value = 0.005) were associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin B12 deficiency is prevalent in approximately 1 in 10 of adult individuals with diabetes in Uganda. We recommend screening for vitamin B12 deficiency among diabetic patients in Uganda especially those with low hemoglobin concentrations and glycated hemoglobin levels ≥ 7 %

An Evaluation of Variation in Soil Test Results Caused by Sampling Methods and Individual Samplers

Soil sampling has been a subject of much study over the past years and has been undertaken for many different purposes. In the agricultural industry, soil sampling is undertaken mostly for the sake of evaluating soil fertility potentials to aid in making fertilizer recommendations. The need for better soil sampling is illustrated by the fact that inadequate sampling often leads to improper use of fertilizer by farmers. The samples are collected and brought to the soil testing laboratories where they are chemically analyzed for the main plant food elements. Fertilizer recommendations based on the soil test results may either be an aid or hindrance to the farmer depending on whether or not the samples reproduce the soils in the fields. The present outcry against indiscriminate use of fertilizer as a source of water pollution dictates a need for research to develop techniques and methods of soil sampling which would be able farmers to collect representative samples. This in turn would lead to appropriate fertilizer recommendations. At present, there are many methods and technique which are being used in collecting soil samples. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the variation in soil test results caused by individual samplers and to see if the use of appropriate sampling directions can reduce this variation