EFFECT OF AGRIBUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES ON CHOICE OF DAIRY COOPERATIVE MARKET CHANNELS IN KENYA

Kenya is witnessing an immense increase in number of smallholder dairy agripreneurs sourcing income from the dairy sub-sector. Smallholder dairy agripreneurs who dominate the production sector are forced to sell milk to informal buyers such as middlemen/women, who exploit them by paying less than the market price. As a result of this, the Kenyan Government has made significant efforts to upgrade dairy cooperatives to link the dairy agripreneurs with consumers. In spite of this, milk marketing is still dominated by traditional informal outlets. This study sought to determine the effect of provision of agribusiness support services on choice of dairy cooperative market channel. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of 682 respondents from Muranga County in Kenya, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results revealed that provision of business plan training, group marketing, pregnancy diagnosis and deworming support services had significant and positive effects on the choice of cooperative market channel. In contrast, access to vaccination services and supply of feeds had negative effectson the choice of cooperative market channel. This study recommends strong coordination among the agribusiness support service providers and the dairy cooperatives in order to increase adoption of the cooperative marketing channel. In addition, dairy cooperatives need to redesign their business models to ensure that their members not only receive agribusiness support services, but also get better prices and prompt payments to increase supply of milk to cooperatives by dairy agripreneurs.En ces deux derni\ue8res d\ue9cennies, le secteur laitier au Kenya a attir\ue9 l\u2019attention d\u2019un grand nombre des petits entrepreneurs, qui en outre consid\ue8rent l\u2019activit\ue9 entrepreneuriale dans le secteur laitier comme leur source principale de revenu. Mais au vu de leur taille d\u2019activit\ue9s, ils sont contraints d\u2019op\ue9rer dans le circuit informel de commercialisation de leurs produits laitiers, et par cons\ue9quent per\ue7oivent le prix de revient inferieur, que celui du march\ue9 formel. Par contre le Gouvernement Kenyan avait mis en place une s\ue9rie des politiques de soutien aux coop\ue9ratives laiti\ue8res du pays afin de formaliser le circuit de commercialisation des produits laitiers, pour une connectivit\ue9 efficace entre les petits entrepreneurs du secteur laitier \ue0 leurs consommateurs potentiels. Malgr\ue9 ces efforts, il est \ue0 signaler que le march\ue9 laitier kenyan est toujours domin\ue9 par un circuit de commercialisation informelle. Cette \ue9tude cherchait \ue0 d\ue9terminer les effets des subventions de soutien aux entreprises laiti\ue8res sur les choix du circuit de commercialisation. Les donn\ue9es \ue9taient collect\ue9es sur un \ue9chantillon de 682 r\ue9pondants dans la collectivit\ue9 de Muranga au Kenya, sur base d\u2019une enqu\ueate transversale, utilisant un questionnaire semi-structur\ue9. Les r\ue9sultats ont r\ue9v\ue9l\ue9 que la formation \ue0 la gestion d\u2019affaires, le groupement des vendeurs, le diagnostic de grossesse et l\u2019acc\ue8s aux services de d\ue9parasitage ont eu des effets significatifs et positifs sur le choix du circuit de commercialisation par coop\ue9rative. En revanche, l\u2019acc\ue8s aux services de vaccination et la fourniture d\u2019aliments ont n\ue9gativement influenc\ue9 le choix du circuit de commercialisation par coop\ue9rative. Ainsi, la pr\ue9sente \ue9tude recommande une effective coordination entre les prestataires de services de soutien \ue0 l\u2019agro-industrie laiti\ue8re et les coop\ue9ratives afin d\u2019accro\ueetre l\u2019adoption du circuit de commercialisation formel par coop\ue9rative. En outre, les coop\ue9ratives laiti\ue8res doivent r\ue9viser leurs mod\ue8les d\u2019op\ue9ration d\u2019achat et de vente pour garantir \ue0 leurs membres non seulement des services de soutien, mais \ue9galement les meilleur conditions de paiement, \ue0 des prix r\ue9mun\ue9rateur, \ue0 temps pour enfin financer les approvisionnements en lait et accroitre ainsi l\u2019offre de lait de la part des Agripreneurs

Effect of source, time and method of nitrogen application on growth and yield components of potato in Kenya

The effect of different sources of Nitrogen (N), time and method of application on growth and development of potato was investigated over two seasons using the cultivar Dutch Robjyn. The three sources of nitrogen (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN, 26% N); Urea (46% N) and Ammonium Sulphate Nitrate (ASN, 27%N)] constituted the main plot treatments, and time [early application, split application (half of the fertiliser at planting and half applied 5 weeks after emergence), and late application (5 weeks after emergence)] and method of application (placement and broadcast within the furrow) constituted the subplots treatments. Early application of N followed by split applied fertiliser led to a fast early growth (shoot, tuber, root and total dry matter, Leaf Area Index (LAI) development, and plant height) particularly where CAN or ASN was applied. Late N application enhanced growth of the shoots (leaves and plant height) later in the growth season particularly with Urea. Broadcast or placement of N in the furrow had no significant effect (

Simple LC-MS Method for Differentiation of Isobaric Phosphatidylserines and Phosphatidylcholines with Deuterated Mobile Phase Additives

Lipids from different classes sometimes can exhibit the same exact mass upon electrospray ionization; this presents an analytical challenge in lipidomics. In the negative ionization mode, for example, this can occur with phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and phosphatidylserines (PSs), making them indistinguishable in the absence of fragmentation data. PSs are found at low concentrations in biological samples, making MS/MS spectra difficult to obtain. Moreover, while PCs and PSs are distinguishable in the positive mode, PSs do not ionize as well as PCs, and their ionization is suppressed by the PCs. Here, we show that, in the negative ionization mode, substituting protiated LC-MS additives with their deuterated forms provides a way to distinguish PCs and PSs without chemical derivatization. The method described leverages the differential ionization mechanism of PCs and PSs. PCs are ionized via adduction with salts, whereas PSs ionize via hydrogen abstraction. Substituting the salts used for LC-MS with their deuterated form shifts the mass of PCs by the number of deuterium atoms in the salt, while the mass of PSs remains the same. This comparative shift enables their direct differentiation. We demonstrate that the use of deuterated formate shifts the mass of PCs and provides a direct method to distinguish PCs and PSs, even at biologically relevant low concentrations. The utility of the method was established and validated in the simultaneous analysis of PCs and PSs in lipid extracts from isolated liver mitochondria in two different rat strains. Thirteen low concentration PSs were identified that would otherwise not have been distinguishable from low concentration PCs

Dietary protein restriction reduces circulating VLDL triglyceride levels via CREBH-APOA5-dependent and -independent mechanisms

Hypertriglyceridemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Dietary interventions based on protein restriction (PR) reduce circulating triglycerides (TGs), but underlying mechanisms and clinical relevance remain unclear. Here, we show that 1 week of a protein-free diet without enforced calorie restriction significantly lowered circulating TGs in both lean and diet-induced obese mice. Mechanistically, the TG-lowering effect of PR was due, in part, to changes in very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) metabolism both in liver and peripheral tissues. In the periphery, PR stimulated VLDL-TG consumption by increasing VLDL-bound APOA5 expression and promoting VLDL-TG hydrolysis and clearance from circulation. The PR-mediated increase in Apoa5 expression was controlled by the transcription factor CREBH, which coordinately regulated hepatic expression of fatty acid oxidation-related genes, including Fgf21 and Ppara. The CREBH-APOA5 axis activation upon PR was intact in mice lacking the GCN2-dependent amino acid-sensing arm of the integrated stress response. However, constitutive hepatic activation of the amino acid-responsive kinase mTORC1 compromised CREBH activation, leading to blunted APOA5 expression and PR-recalcitrant hypertriglyceridemia. PR also contributed to hypotriglyceridemia by reducing the rate of VLDL-TG secretion, independently of activation of the CREBH-APOA5 axis. Finally, a randomized controlled clinical trial revealed that 4-6 weeks of reduced protein intake (7%-9% of calories) decreased VLDL particle number, increased VLDL-bound APOA5 expression, and lowered plasma TGs, consistent with mechanistic conservation of PR-mediated hypotriglyceridemia in humans with translational potential as a nutraceutical intervention for dyslipidemia