Evaluation on Grain Marketing Efficiency of Merkeb Multipurpose Farmers’ Cooperatives Union

The Ethiopian farmer in its marketing tradition usually inflicted by different negative outcomes of market particularly lack of bargaining power and internal and external pressures to sell his products immediately after harvesting season while massive supply of grain use to bring to the market. The cooperative grain marketing activities in the country is the newly emerging phenomenon. By now it is following a growing trend and affluent everywhere. The research concentrated on the evaluation of the efficiency and performance of Merkeb Multipurpose farmer's cooperatives union and affiliates in the area of grain marketing. The union has 56 affiliated primary cooperatives having 106,574 individual members being one of the largest cooperative unions in the Amhara Region. This evaluation has been done in terms of operational and pricing efficiency, which are the common parameters of efficiency measurement for marketing. The operational efficiency of the union and affiliates as disclosed by the survey results is found at its lower level than the expected. They are not well accessed to the individual members where as their competent traders use to penetrate the entire rural areas through establishing grain assembling sites. The storages under the affiliated cooperatives are not well organized and managed. They are unoccupied most of the time in the year after selling the grain while depreciating every year exposing the cooperatives for continuous losses.The technical efficiency of traders is by far better than the organized cooperative system. They hold the upper hand and able to attract farmers through provisions of interest free loans for immediate money demands, forwarding the prevailing market prices of grain. They could purchase more than 70 per cent of the marketed grain. Farmers are hesitating to work with cooperatives and more than 30 per cent dissatisfied with the marketing methods of cooperatives. Traders are benefiting from the marketing margins of grain trades through acquiring 18.06 per cent 0f marketing margin (70.3 per cent) from maize crop in the 2003/04. The trend was reverted in 2004/05 where the share of the union improved to be 11.4 from 4.86 or (from18.9 to 66.6 per cent.). Regardless of this improvement, the union by now withdraws itself from grain marketing fearing the VAT registration. Yet, grain marketing should be the priority area of the union and affiliates since they are the organizations of farmers whose interest is improving the bargaining power in the grain marketing system. As per the results of the survey all common problems of cooperative societies are also observed in the union and the affiliates such as poor management, ineffective execution of various functions, corruption and negligence of responsibilities of the cooperative functions. As far as cooperatives are new forms of farmers’ organization in the rural Ethiopia, they lack the required capacity to promote the functions of marketing and even the management of cooperative organizations. It is therefore necessary to take immence intervention in the area of capacity building, provision of inputs, and continous awerness creation among members to remove the misconception about cooperative societies that developed from the previous socialist policies of the military government

Fusarium Wilt: A Killer Disease of Lentil

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus subsp. culinaris) is an important dietary source of protein and other essential nutrients in South and West Asia, North and East Africa. Lentil crops are vulnerable to a number of diseases caused by fungi, viruses, nematodes, insect pests, parasitic plants and abiotic stresses. Among them, the most significant and serious soil-borne disease is Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lentis: Fol). Fusarium wilt causes yield loss up to 50% in farmers’ fields. The pathogen showed high levels of phenotypic and genotypic diversity in India, Algeria, Syria and Iran. The disease thrives at 22–25°C temperature and affect lentil either at seedling and vegetative or the reproductive stages of the crop. To minimize yield losses, an integrated management strategy comprising resistant/partial resistant cultivars, adjusting sowing time, bio-control and chemical seed treatments is the best approach to reduce the incidence of the Fusarium wilt of lentil. This review covers past achievements in managing the disease, pathogen diversity and identify gaps in managing Fusarium wilt to improve productivity and production of the crop

Identification of Feed Resources for Cattle Fattening and Chemical Composition Determination in Dessie and Kombolcha Towns, Ethiopia

This study was designed to identify common conventional and nonconventional feed resources worth of feeding oxen for cattle fattening in and around Dessie and Kombolcha towns and evaluate the sources, availability, quantity, distribution, price and limitation of different feeds. Urban and peri urban kebeles who practices cattle fattening were totally considered in both study towns. Accordingly, 3 and 6 urban, 4 and 6 peri urban kebeles were selected from Dessie and Kombolcha towns, respectively. Complete enumeration techniques were applied to select urban and peri urban kebeles. Totally, 190 and 147 cattle fatteners were selected and interviewed in the identification process of feed resources used for cattle fattening practices in Dessie and Kombolcha towns, respectively. In both study towns 42 feed resources used for cattle fattening practices were identified. The identified feed resources were characterized in to different categories according to their nature and prioritized based on availability and abundance. Further feed resources categorized in to three groups based on their importance and level of significance for cattle fattening purpose, i.e., 1 st, 2nd and 3rd choice. Fromthe totally identified feeds, nine major and highly significant feed resources,which were nominated by the respondents from both study towns, were selected and subjected for chemical analysis. The collected samples were examined to determine the DM, Ash, CP, NDF, ADF and ADL. In Dessie and Kombolcha towns, the identified cattle feed sources were poultry farms, flour factors, milling houses, micro and small food processors, local brewery houses, farmers, brewery factory, oil seed processers, pasture lands, feed traders, sugar processing factory, university and government aids. There was high seasonal variability of feed availability and distribution in both study towns. September to December relatively there was abundant feed resources. On the other hand, the feed shortage and price increased severely towards January to June. As a result, storing and saving available cattle fattening feed resources during surpluses time is crucial for proper cattle fattening practices. In addition, the government intervention is recommendable to solve poor distribution, limited access of feed resources and to decreases transportation difficulties and costs

Changes in Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity and Transferrin Saturation Percent in Sudanese Females Newly Diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Khartoum Oncology Hospital: A case- control study

Background:Iron is a vital constituent of cells but in excess may be harmful and is associated with a raised risk for some malignant diseases including breast cancer. We aimed to study changes in iron profile in Sudanese females newly diagnosed with breast cancer.Methods: A case- control study in which serum iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation percent were measured for fifty females with breast cancer referred to Khartoum Oncology Hospital and seventy apparently healthy females, using manual method (IRON-FERROZINE).  Results: Mean age was 47years and 42years in cases and control, respectively and the mean of parity was 4 in both groups. Mean of serum iron ±SD in case group was 244.30 ± 151.598(µg/dL)and in control group was 57.59 ± 43.191(µg/dL) (P. value = 0.000). Mean of TIBC ±SD in cases was 412.98 ± 177.460(µg/dL)and in controls it was 403.71 ± 168.765(µg/dL) (P.value = 0.838). The mean of transferrin saturation percent ± SD in cases was 61.08 % ±41.523 and in controls was 223.23 % ±149.195 (P.value=0.000). The mean of TIBC in grade I 343.00(µg/dL), 467.10(µg/dL) in grade II and 321.25(µg/dL) in grade III (P.value 0.019).Conclusion: There is a statistically significant increase in the mean of serum iron and decrease in transferrin saturation percent in women with breast cancer. TIBC vary significantly according to histopathological grade. Serum iron and transferrin saturation percent may be helpful as biochemical risk markers for breast cancer and TIBC may act as a predictor of disease grade

Effects of High pressure coolant on machining temperature and machinability of AISI 304 stainless steel

Paper presented at 2018 Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers International Congress, 27-30 May 2018.Effective zones of high pressure coolant (HPC) have been identified in turning performing a wide range of machining operations on 304 stainless steel using uncoated carbide inserts. The effects of triple coolant jets on tool-chip interface temperature were studied. In addition, their performance are evaluated in terms of machining parameters by comparing with those of conventional coolant and dry cut. Chipping and catastrophic failure are the dominant factors of insert rejection for dry cut and conventional coolant, whereas progressive flank wear is observed for HPC within its effective zones at lower feed rate and higher cutting speed. It is found that the cutting force is reduced, surface finish is improved, chip width is narrowed and cooling effect is better with the use of HPC. The enhanced heat dissipation by triple jets is accredited as the primary reason for the reduction of cutting forces, surface roughness and tool wear

Expression of cyclin D1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Cyclin D1 expression regulates normal cell cycle. Its deregulation or overexpression may cause disruption in the normal cell cycle control and lead to cancer progression. In this study, we aimed to study the expression of cyclin D1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and find its association with the different grades of oral tumors, if any.Methods: This cross-sectional study included 40 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks specimens of OSCC with variable grades. The expression of cyclin D1 was evaluated through immunohistochemical (IHC) staining.Results: A total of 40 (9 female and 31 male) samples were included, with a maleto-female ratio of 3.4:1. The age ranged between 25 and 90 years with an average age of 65.5 years. Twenty-five (62.5%) samples were diagnosed as well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (WDSCC) and fifteen (37.5%) as poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (PDSCC). No cases of moderately differentiated squamous carcinoma were included in the study. The expression of cyclin D1 was detected in the cases of WDSCC and a lesser expression was seen in the PDSCC with a P-value of 0.0003, OR 1581 and 95% CI (29.8239 to 83810.7113).Conclusion: Cyclin D1 is expressed in OSCC and stronger expression was detected in WDSCC

Evaluations of biopesticides for the management of food legume aphids and pod bores in Morocco

Different Aphid species (Acyrthosiphon pisum and Aphis fabae) and pod borers are key production constraints on faba bean, field pea, chickpea and lentil in south Asia, north Africa and East Africa. Besides direct economic damage, some aphid species play important roles as vectors of legume viruses like Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV). Sources of resistance to aphids and pod borers is not available in temperate food legumes and farmers largely use insecticides to protect their crops. Looking for biopesticides against aphids and pod borers is an important area of research to develop biorational pest management in food legumes

Effect of Planting Depth on Growth Performance of Maize (Zea-Mays) at the Experimental Site of Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia

The experiment was conducted at the experimental site of Wollo University with the objective of assessing the effect of different sowing depth on growth performance of Maize plant