Detection and restoration of click degraded audio based on high-order sparse linear prediction

Clicks are short-duration defects that affect most archived audio media. Linear prediction (LP) modeling for the representation and restoration of audio signals that have been corrupted by click degradation has been extensively studied. The use of high-order sparse linear prediction for the restoration of clickdegraded audio given the time location of samples affected by click degradation has been shown to lead to significant restoration improvement over conventional LP-based approaches. For the practical usage of such methods, the identification of the time location of samples affected by click degradation is critical. High-order sparse linear prediction has been shown to lead to better modeling of audio resulting in better restoration of click degraded archived audio. In this paper, the use of high-order sparse linear prediction for the detection and restoration of click degraded audio is proposed. Results in terms of click duration estimation, SNR improvement and perceptual audio quality show that the proposed approach based on high-order sparse linear prediction leads to better performance compared to state of the art LP-based approaches.&nbsp

Large Scale Land Investments and Food Security in Agro-Pastoral Areas of Ethiopia

There is an ongoing debate about the impact of large scale land investments on the livelihoods of rural households in developing countries. This study investigates the impact of large scale land investments on households\u27 food security in Ethiopia. The findings show proximity to large scale land investments is associated with higher food intake with an average treatment effect of 744.71 kcal per day per adult. This is mainly because of the availability relatively good natural capitals near to large scale land investments. Large scale land investments should make sure that the local community has access to grazing to improve food security of the local communities

Educational Research and Reviews Untied efforts: The challenges for improved research, extension and education linkages

Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by smallholders farming whose access to modern technology and basic education is very limited. Research, extension, education and farmers are the main pillars of agricultural knowledge systems and their effectiveness largely depends on strong linkage among each other. However, the existing research-extension-education linkage has not been effective. This very weak linkage has been a major limiting factor to increased food productivity, agricultural transformation and sustainable development. Thus, the purpose of this review is to point out the major challenges for effective linkage between Research, Extension and Education (REE) and propose some recommendations for better linkages. Much of the problems bounce around limited implementation capacity and lack of commitment. Specific challenges include unnecessary competition and duplication of efforts, lack of decentralized approach, failure to involve poor farmers and inefficient monitoring and evaluation system. Thus, policy framework that synergizes the relevant actors' linkage in a sustainable manner should be in place to bring the intended growth and transformation in agriculture through technology and innovation

The impacts of large-scale land investments on agropastoral livelihoods in Ethiopia

Land is at the center of rural livelihoods in developing countries. Despite this, access to land is contested in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The situation in Ethiopia is not different. Since the 1970s, state-run large-scale land investments (LSLIs) in sugar plantations have encroached into pastoral rangelands in Ethiopia. As a result, pastoralists have lost access to dry season grazing areas. Since 2010, new LSLI plans have been expanding on the remaining productive rangelands, exacerbating the problem. The conversion of rangelands to LSLIs in sugar plantations has implications for the livelihoods of the local population. The concerns are high in pastoral areas of Ethiopia where poverty and food insecurity are widespread. However, much of the research so far has focused on investigating the impacts of foreign-run LSLIs, although state-run investments cover the largest part of the agropastoral regions in Ethiopia. With this motivation, this thesis aims at investigating the impacts of LSLIs in sugar plantations on agropastoral livelihoods in four dimensions; food security, land degradation, land use conflict, and resilience. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the thesis.Chapter two presents the impacts of LSLIs on household food security based on panel data. Food insecurity affects one-third of agropastoral households. The results show that proximity to LSLIs is associated with additional food intake. However, the positive effect of proximity to LSLIs on household food consumption should be regarded with care. According to the random effects regression, positive effects on food security are mainly due to household access to land, quality soil, irrigation, and forests. Moreover, the impact of proximity to LSLIs on food intake declines by household access to road and market. When using the household coping strategies index, food insecurity increases by household proximity to LSLIs. Hence, the food security impact of LSLIs varies by the indicator of food security. However, the food security of the study populations is generally low, and urgent actions need to be taken by the government of Ethiopia and other stakeholders to improve this situation.  Chapter three discusses the impact of LSLI-induced displacement on land degradation in agropastoral areas of Ethiopia by using cross-sectional survey data.  The results show that 75% of the surveyed households have experienced moderate to severe land degradation and 55.8% lost land due to LSLIs. The results reveal that the displacement of households leads to a significant increase in land degradation. LSLIs aggravated land degradation directly by destroying common resources (clearing vegetation and grass) in favor of plantation production and dispossessing grazing land and exacerbating overgrazing. Drought and conflict exposure, the number of livestock, overgrazing, and sharecropping increase the intensity of land degradation. Market access, extension services, household income, and mobility, on the contrary, limit the occurrence of land degradation. Attention should be given to the rehabilitation of degraded lands and the prevention of people's displacement.Chapter four identifies the determinants of land use conflict between agropastoralists and LSLIs. Based on household and community surveys, the study shows that land use conflict has been increasing since the establishment of LSLIs and has affected more than a quarter of the study population. The results show that dispossession of land by LSLIs, lack of trust for LSLIs, and scarcity of pasture land, both from a supply- (land degradation, drought, and invasive weeds) and a demand-side (herd size) perspective were the drivers of land conflict. The state appropriation of traditional pastures for industrial plantations exacerbates land conflicts. The Ethiopian government and stakeholders should resolve the conflict over land between LSLIs and local communities.Chapter five explores the likely effect of LSLIs on household resilience in pastoral areas using panel data.  About one-third of the study population has low resilience capacity, while more than half has low welfare resilience. The results show that proximity to LSLIs significantly reduces households’ resilience capacity. Factors that enhance the resilience capacities of households include access to livestock markets, social safety nets, extension, mobility, and social and infrastructural services. Future resilience programs in agropastoral areas should mitigate the adverse effect of LSLIs by enhancing livelihood diversification and households’ access to communal pastures. Providing resilience-enhancing interventions for pastoralists and particularly for women-headed households would improve their resilience capacities.The overall findings of this thesis provide empirical evidence that LSLIs increase the vulnerability of local people to shocks, land conflicts, land degradation, and food insecurity in terms of coping strategies. Thus, I conclude that the following is needed: (i) balancing the trade-off between maximizing export revenue from LSLIs and improving local livelihoods; (ii) ensuring land tenure security for communal lands to improve the livelihoods of pastoral people; (iii) resolving land conflicts between pastoralists and LSLIs through negotiations and traditional institutions  (iv) enhancing the resilience capacity and food security of pastoral communities with more focus on women-headed households (v) promoting diverse livelihood strategies to specifically address the needs of different communities.&nbsp

Double Marginalized Livelihoods: Invisible Gender Inequality in Pastoral Societies

Achieving gender equality is the Third Millennium Development Goal, and the major challenge to poverty reduction is the inability of governments to address this at grass root levels. This study is therefore aimed at assessing gender inequality as it pertains to socio-economic factors in (agro-) pastoral societies. It tries to explain how “invisible” forces perpetuate gender inequality, based on data collected from male and female household heads and community representatives. The findings indicate that in comparison with men, women lack access to control rights over livestock, land, and income, which are critical to securing a sustainable livelihood. However, this inequality remains invisible to women who appear to readily submit to local customs, and to the community at large due to a lack of public awareness and gender based interventions. In addition, violence against women is perpetuated through traditional beliefs and sustained by tourists to the area. As a result, (agro-) pastoral woman face double marginalization, for being pastoralist, and for being a woman

Impact of improved potato varieties adoption on household resilience to food insecurity

The study aimed at investigating whether the adoption of improved potato varieties by smallholder farmers would enhance their resilience to food insecurity or not, based on evidence from Ethiopia. A cross-sectional comparative research design was employed, where smallholder farmers who have been utilizing three improved potato varieties were compared with those who did not. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select four kebeles and 329 sample household heads. Primary data sources were generated using interview schedules, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling (SEM), and the propensity score matching model (PSM). By food energy intake, about 53.19% of the households were food insecure, where 20.97% and 32.2%, respectively, were adopters and non-adopters. On average, the study households have achieved about 68.5% of the resilience level to food insecurity, while the figures for adopters and non-adopters are 0.540% and 0.332%, respectively. The result of the PSM showed that the adoption of improved potato varieties had a significant positive effect on household resilience to food insecurity. The adoption of improved potato varieties increases food security on average by 324.5 Kcal per adult per day. Moreover, the resilience to food insecurity of adopters has increased on average by 0.540 points relative to non-adopters. The finding showed that improved potato adoption had a positive impact on households' resilience to food insecurity. Therefore, governments, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders should promote access to improved potato varieties by smallholder farmers to improve household resilience to food insecurity

Gender roles in teff value chain in borecha district of south western Ethiopia: husband and wife comparisions

Teff is a highly valuable grain for Ethiopian people in generating income and achieving food security. Using unique cross-sectional data from husbands and wives, descriptive statistics and an econometric model, this paper analyzes gender roles in the teff value chain in south-western Ethiopia. Primary data was collected from 117 farmers, 38 traders and 14 consumers. Findings indicate that women contribute more than their husbands to teff production, and their labor burden exceeds that of their husbands since they perform reproductive activities in which men do not participate. Most women are involved in the production, processing and retailing of teff. In turn, their husbands control the wholesale process and cash generated. However, it is difficult to calculate the labor share of women in the household. There are very weak linkages between actors of the entire teff value chain. Among the main determinants of teff market supply, education of the respondent, land area, market information and cooperative membership have a positive effect. Conversely, distance to market negatively affected teff market supply. Therefore, enhancing cooperation between teff value chain actors and providing women with access to training, education and extension services should be a policy priority in the study areas

DETERMINANTS OF SMALLHOLDER FRUIT COMMERCIALIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

The aim of the study was to identify determinants of smallholder fruit commercialization in southwest Ethiopia. To get the sampled respondents multi-stage sampling techniques were used and in view of that, three districts were selected purposively from Jimma zone by selecting eight kebeles randomly. At the end, total of 240 sample households were randomly selected from these kebeles. To answer the research questions and objective of the study both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected from fruit producers as sampled households, agricultural experts, local leaders and other subject matter specialists on various aspects of commercializing fruits. Primary data were collected from the respondents using a pre-testing questionnaires, structured interview schedule and closed and open-ended questionnaires by well-trained enumerators closely supervised by the researchers. Secondary data were previous research findings and reports collected from kebeles, districts, agricultural offices, ministry of trade, trade and revenue offices. Moreover, qualitative data were collected through discussions with different agents by using focus group discussion and key informant interviews. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, average mean, standard deviation, chi square and t-test) and econometric model (Probit model) to analyse determinant factors affecting smallholder’s participation decision in marketing of fruits. From the result, age of household heads, household family size, access to transport services, off-farm activities, access to extension services, distance to market, improved fruit seeds and perishability of fruit were significantly affecting smallholder farmer’s participation decision in commercialization of fruits. Therefore, to overcome the investigated problems strong commitment and reformation should be done by stakeholders including farmers, extension agents, researchers, policy makers

Resilience of Ethiopian Agropastoral Households in the Presence of Large-Scale Land Investments

Agropastoral societies in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are facing challenges in their land use. Land shifts toward large-scale land investments have exacerbated the scarcity of pastures, thus affecting the resilience of pastoral systems. In this study, we assessed how large-scale land investments affect household resilience using data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey in Ethiopia. We estimated household resilience capacity by a multivariate two-step factor analysis and welfare resilience from net changes in welfare outcomes between two survey intervals. We also assessed the effect of large-scale land investment on household resilience using random effects ordered logistic regression model. Factors that enhanced the resilience capacities of households included access to livestock markets, social safety nets, extension, mobility, and social services. Approximately one-third of the study population had a low resilience capacity, and more than half had low welfare resilience. Moreover, proximity to a large-scale land investment significantly reduced households' likelihood of having high resilience capacity. Therefore, future resilience programs in agropastoral areas should mitigate the adverse effect of large-scale land investments by enhancing livelihood diversification and households' access to communal pastures

Large-scale land investments, household displacement, and the effect on land degradation in semiarid agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia

Agro-pastoral areas in Ethiopia have been targeted by large-scale land investments, particularly for the establishment of sugar plantations, since the 1970s. This has led to the displacement of local communities. We investigate the impact of this displacement due to large-scale land investment on land degradation in semiarid agro-pastoral areas in Ethiopia. We conducted a survey of 866 households in two agro-pastoral sites in Ethiopia in 2019, where extensive large-scale land investment was implemented. We use an endogenous (switching) treatment model to assess the effect of the displacement of households on land degradation. The result shows that 75% of the surveyed households experienced moderate–severe land degradation. Forestlands and grasslands are ranked as the most degraded areas. About 43.7% of the households face a reduction in herd size and 55.8% lost land due to large-scale land investment, while 86% of the households show a substantial decline in crops and livestock productivity due to land degradation. The results also reveal that the displacement of households leads to a significant increase in land degradation. Household exposure to drought and conflict, the number of livestock, overgrazing, and sharecropping are other drivers of land degradation. Market access, extension services, household income, and mobility, on the other hand, limit the occurrence of land degradation. We conclude that the shifts in property rights from common land used by pastoralists to private land in large-scale plantations aggravate land degradation in semiarid drylands