Implications of rural irrigation schemes on household economy. A case of lower Gweru irrigation scheme, Zimbabwe

Rural poverty is a major challenge in most developing countries especially in Africa where the majority of people are still living below the poverty datum line. In Zimbabwe, poverty is made more severe by occasional droughts associated with climate change, climate variability and failed socio-economic-political governance. One of the ways to mitigate the impact of drought and prevent deepening poverty is the introduction of small irrigation schemes. However, there is a raging debate on the social and economic viability of these schemes on household livelihood security and income. This paper aims at investigating the socio-economic impacts of Lower Gweru Irrigation project in Zimbabwe. A case study approach was used in this study. Primary data was gathered using self-administered questionnaire and complemented by secondary data. Results demonstrated that rural irrigation has a critical role in ensuring sustainable household and community income. Irrigators fared well regarding wealth accumulation, household food security and quality of life as measured through the use of standardised HDI. In light of the above, there is a need to fund and develop more rural irrigation schemes so as to ensure livelihood security and rural development in Zimbabwe.Keywords: Rural livelihood, Poverty, Climate change, Irrigation, Lower Gweru, Extension

Assessment of Rock Pressure for Tunnels in the Himalayan Region — A Case History

Since early sixties numerous tunnels had been planned and constructed for hydro-electric power generation in the Himalayan Region of India. The mountain chain is of very recent origin geologically and is believed to be still active tectonically. The geology is complex and tunneling under such circumstances had been a real challenge. It was a tough task to predict the geotechnical behaviour of the tunneling media. Beginning with the classical approach of Terzaghi (1925-46) many rock pressure estimation theories had been evolved for prediction and estimation of rock pressure for designing competent and stable tunnel supports. The author has made an attempt to project real field data, which is rare to find, during a period of over thirty years of his association with the construction of numerous tunnels driven through diverse rock formations. Various theories in vogue for rock pressure assessment yielded different results. An attempt had also been made to reason out the differences. The rock pressure assessment is still a dark area, shaded darker when dealing with weak and very weak rock formations. It is believed that earthquakes affect the surface structures most but the sub surface structures are less affected. Some earthquakes occurring in India support this notion

India's Contribution to the Mining, Extraction and Refining of Gold : Some Observations Related to the Pre-Christian Era

India has a very old and fascinating history of gold. Various aspects of the mining and metallurgy of gold were known to the Indians since time immemorial. In this paper, different types of the gold ore deposits', and the technique used in the extraction and refining of gold in ancient India as obtained from the literary sources 'composed in the pre-Christian era and some archa-eological findings are discussed. The recovery of a novel variety of high purity gold powder, known as Pipilaka Gold, from the auriferous soil of ant-hills, as stated in the Maheibharata, has also been discussed

Oyster mushroom waste as manure in fish culture: a preliminary study

In an attempt to recycle the waste substrates of the oyster-mushroom crop, tanks were stocked with seed of Indian major carp Cirrhinus mrigala at the rate of 600,000/ha and waste substrate was applied at weekly interval at 0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 g/tank. Oyster mushroom waste not only provided highly nutritive colonised detritus to the fish as direct feed, but also produced rich plankton in the tank. In waste treated tanks, production was better than in the control in 150, 200 and 250 g/tank treatment suggesting the possibility of fish-oyster mushroom integration

Genetic analysis of somatic cell score and udder type traits in South African Holstein cows

Selection accuracy for resistance to mastitis may be increased by combining somatic cell score (SCS) and udder type into an udder health index, using genetic parameter estimates among them. A multi-trait animal model was used to estimate genetic parameters among lactation average SCS and udder type traits in South African Holstein cattle, through REML procedures. Data comprised records on 22 999 Holstein cows in 722 herds, collected through the National Milk Recording Scheme from 1996 to 2002. Average SCS in the first three lactations (SCS1, SCS2, SCS3) were considered as different traits and the udder type traits were fore udder attachment (FUA), rear udder height (RUH), udder cleft (UC), udder depth (UD), fore teat length (FTL) and fore teat placement (FTP). Heritability estimates for SCS were 0.19 ± 0.02, 0.17 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.02, respectively for SCS1, SCS2 and SCS3. Udder type traits had heritability estimates ranging from 0.13 ± 0.01 for UC to 0.34 ± 0.01 for FTL. The genetic correlations between lactation SCS ranged from 0.82 ± 0.04 to 0.99 ± 0.03 for correlations of SCS3 with SCS1 and SCS2, respectively. Genetic correlations between SCS and udder type traits were in the range -0.01 ± 0.07 between FUA and SCS3 to -0.38 ± 0.04 between UD and SCS1 and SCS2. Slow genetic progress is expected when selection is applied independently on SCS and udder type traits, due to the generally low heritability estimates. Low, shallow udders with narrowly placed teats are associated with low SCS in the South African Holstein population. Keywords: Genetic parameters, mastitis, selection accuracy, udder healthSouth African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 38 (1) 2008: pp. 1-1

Irrigation technology for smallholder farmers: a strategy for achieving household food security in lower Gweru Zimbabwe

The problem of food insecurity in developing countries is an enormous challenge. In rural communities, it is a perennial problem that requires undivided attention to ensure household food security. This paper seeks to define the role of rural participation in providing household and community food security with a particular focus on Lower Gweru irrigation project in Zimbabwe. The research comes in light of increased food deficit in Zimbabwe that has been compounded by failed politics, climate change and weather extreme events. Data was gathered using self-administered questionnaires, direct observation and literature review. Data was analysed using the Microsoft Excel 365 ToolPak and Health24 Web Calculator. This paper highlights the importance of rural irrigation schemes in addressing community and household food security and ensuring health nutrition uptake by irrigators and surrounding communities. Rural irrigation systems enable farmers to become net food sellers allowing them to benefit from food price volatility. It also highlights the resultant development and makes recommendations for future irrigation developments.Keywords: Food security, Zimbabwe irrigation, climate change, nutrition, irrigation

Comment on: `Pipe Network Model for Scaling of Dynamic Interfaces in Porous Media'

We argue that a proposed exponent identity [Phys. Rev. Lett 85, 1238 (2000)] for interface roughening in spontaneous imbibition is wrong. It rests on the assumption that the fluctuations are controlled by a single time scale, but liquid conservation imposes two distinct time scales.Comment: 1 page, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Rock Mass Behaviour Assessment for Large Cavern in Rock

A large power house cavern (22m x 50m x 250m) is proposed to be excavated for installing a 1000 MW hydroelectric power plant for Tehri Dam Project. The gorge chosen for the dam is very narrow and the topography is rugged and inhospitable. This dampened the process of preconstruction investigations. A number of tunnels were constructed for various project structures in the vicinity of the cavern. This provided an excellent opportunity to study the rock mass behaviour. Tunnel closure and rock loads were monitored with the help of instruments. Deformation moduli were also determined for different rock grades with the help of various techniques. A voluminous data had been obtained. This data had been analyzed thoroughly and values of various parameters had been suggested for the final design of underground cavern and the supporting structures

Assessing accessibility and availability of portable water supply in selected communities of Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipality, Limpopo province of South Africa

In this study, we assessed the accessibility and availability of portable water supply in selected communities of the Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality. A systematic random sampling method was used to select 49 households from Mashite village and 77 households from Lebowakgomo Zone F. A Global Positioning System (GPS) was used to collect absolute locations of available water taps and the reservoir in the Mashite village whereas for Lebowakgomo Zone F municipal household taps data were recorded. Data were statistically analysed and the Pearson Chi-Square test was used to test the relationship between the reuse of onsite greywater at Mashite rural area and Lebowakgomo township area. The results showed that the majority of households (38%) in Mashite village obtained their water from the rivers whereas all respondents in Lebowakgomo Zone F had access to tap water. Further, ninety-four percent (94%) of respondents in Mashite village travel less than 1 km to a water source, while 6% travel between 1 and 3 kms. Proximity to standard water pipes in Mashite village was beyond the recommended 200 m distance. Thirty-five percent (35%) of the respondents in Mashite village and 77% respondents in Lebowakgomo Zone F, respectively, indicated that the available water met their water needs although the quantity of water used per month differed between the two areas. Most of the respondents (56%) in Mashite village used 250 L of water per month while 61% use more than 6000 L in Lebowakgomo Zone F. It is, therefore, recommended that local municipalities should provide rural communities with water taps that are in close proximity of 200 m to households as recommended by the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG). However, even though the DPLG recommends the proximity level of 200 m, this is still questionable as some households still struggle to have enough running water as these taps are sometimes vandalised, not functional or even situated in elevated areas were it becomes impossible for water to ascend uphill due to the pressure of the water. In addition, it is further recommend that local authorities provide household taps that are functional. Moreover, the service delivery should be improved, and water provision infrastructure maintained regularly