The Role of Farmers to Farmers Knowlodge Sharing in Improved Sesame Technology Adoption in Case of Meisso District West Hararghe Zone

This  journal article analyze and summarize  the role of farmer to farmer knowledge  sharing in term of providing the most credible and reliable source of information about new technologies  for rapid adoption of new technologies and to document the perception of farmers about improved sesame technology attributes. This survey result is based on the cross sectional data collected in 2014 cropping season from 140 households randomly selected from Meisso district. The primary data source for the study was from formal household questionnaire survey and key informant discussion. .In addition, secondary data were collected from relevant sources such as different research institute, zonal and district bureau of agriculture.  Descriptive statistics such as   mean, standard deviation and percentage were used to describe the sample unit. Furthermore, chi-square test and t-test were used to identify variables that vary significantly between adopters and non-adopter.The result of the survey study indicated that 42.9% of the sample households were adopters of the improved sesame technologies ,while 57.1 % non- adopters. The chi-square analysis  showed that  adopters were better educated, male headed households, have more access to extension servicesand  farmers to farmer’s knowledge sharing network and perceived the attributes of improved sesame technologies more advantagous than non-adopters. The results of t-test also showed that adopter farmers have more family labor force, livestock ownership, sesame crop production experience, earned farm income and more near to the market center than non-adopters. In addition to this fact, a farmer to farmers knowledge sharing has significantly contributed to the technologies adoption through facilitating adopters’ farmers’ access to credible and reliable source of information about new technology and accessed to improved seed. The overall finding of the study underlined the high importance of institutional support in the areas of extension service to insist farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing, credit and market to enhance adoption of improved sesame technology. This study is also imply due attention to farmers’ views during the new technology development, evaluation and dissemination process. Keywords: Farmers to farmers knowdge sharing, seseame tecchnology adoption, attributes, technologies development and dissemination

Impact of Different Nitrogen Amount and Seeding Rates on Growth and Yield of NERICA 4 Rice Varieties in Upland Conditions

With the recent breakthrough in the development of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) for the upland production system and the high demand for rice, farmers’ interest in growing upland rice has increased. A field experiment was conducted at  Tsukuba International center, Japan  from May to October 2019 to evaluate the response of rice to seed rate and nitrogen fertilizer application and also determine economically optimum seed rate and nitrogen level for NERICA-4 upland variety. The experiment contained factorial combination of four levels of nitrogen (0, 30, 60, 90 kg ha-1 and two seed rates (60& 80 Kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design plot arrangement with three replications. The results from this study indicated that seed rate showed no significant effect on total dry matter weight, plant length, SPAD value, Leaf area index, panicle number, spikelet number, ripening ratio and grain yield while the total number of tillers was significant.  However, nitrogen fertilizer rates significantly (p < 0.05) affected in plant length, tiller number, SPAD value, dry matter and Leaf area index. Except 1000grain, all the yield and yield component parameters have also shown a significant increase up to the rate of 90 kg N ha−1. The highest grain yield (3340 kg∙ha−1) was recorded  using 90 kg N ha−1 followed by 60 kg N ha−1 (3200 kg ha−1) and the lowest yield (2100 kg  ha−1) was recorded from control .  Marginal rate of return analysis is also showed that the treatment with N fertilizer rate of 90 kg N ha−1 and seed rate 60 kg ha−1 gave the highest Marginal rate of return 1217 % followed by the treatment with N fertilizer rate of 60 kg N ha−1 and seed rate 60 kg ha−1.The general trend of the data indicated that the fertilizer rate has a greatest impact on grain yield compared to the seed rate of rice crop. Based on this study using 60 kg/ha seed rate and application of 90 kg N ha−1 gives high grain yield for rice crop production at experimental site. Keywords:  Economic profit, Seed rate, N fertilizer rate, Optimum grain yield, Marginal rate of return DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-4-05 Publication date: February 28th 202

Adoption and Cost Benefit Analysis of Sesame Technology in Drought Prone Areas of Ethiopia: Implication for Sustainable Commercialization

This article documents the determinants of household-level of adoption and cost  benefit analysis based on the data  collected  in 2014 G.C from 140 randomly -selected households in drought prone areas of Ethiopia namely from West Herreghe Zone, Meisso district. Data for the study was obtained from formal household questionnaire survey, key informant discussion and direct observation of farmers fields. .In addition, secondary data were collected from relevant sources such as  different research institute, zonal and wereda bureau of agriculture . In order to describe and compare different categories of the sample units with respect to the desired characteristics mean, standard deviation and percentage were used. Furthermore, chi-square test and an independent sample t-test were used to identify variables that vary significantly between adopters and non-adopter.Logistic regression (binary logit) analysis was used to identify the relative importance of the various factors associated with adoption of improved sesame technologies. The economic analysis using the partial budgeting method and price sensitivity analysis were also used to ascertain the profitability of the adopted improved sesame technologies. The result of the study indicated that about 42.9% of the sample respondents were adopters of the improved sesame technologies ,while 57.1 % non- adopters. Results of the logistic regression analysis indicate that among 18, identified explanatory variables 9, of them significantly influenced adoption of improved sesame technologies. Education,sex, family labor supply, livestock onwership,total farm income earned ,perception on varieties attributes, farmer to farmers knowledge sharing and  years experience in sesame crop production are associated singificantly and positively with adoption of improved sesame technologies.whereas,distance from market center is associated significantly but negatively. The partial budget results also indicate that improved sesame  technology was highly profitable compared to local cultivars .The overall finding of the study underlined the high importance of institutional support in the areas of extension service to insist farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing, credit and market to enhance adoption of improved sesame technology. There is also need to consider farmers’ views during the new technology development, evaluation and dissemination process. Moreover, due attention and policy consideration has to be given by government to those significant variables which have a potential impact in determining farmer’s adoption decision in the study area. Keywords: Logistic regression (binary logit) analysis, seseame tecchnology adoption, Cost Benefit Analysis  Sensitivity , Ethiopi

Adoption of improved sesame varieties in Meisso District, West Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Achieving national food security and diversifying export earning agricultural commodity is one of the major challenges currently facing developing countries like Ethiopia. Oils crop in general and sesame crop in particular play a great role in improving household’s food security, increasing income for the local population and export earnings for the country. Despite the high production potential and the economic importance of the crop, sesame producers particularly small scale farmers did not economically much benefited from its production. Low production and productivity, which is mainly associated with poor adoption of improved technologies and poor marketing system, was among the major problems. To this end, the objectives of this study were: to assess the relative financial profitability of improved sesame varieties, to assess the perception of farmers about improved sesame varieties attributes and to explore the contribution of farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing to adoption decision and finally to determine the relative importance of the various factors associated with adoption of improved sesame varieties. For this study, a three stage of sampling procedure was employed to select the sample households. First, Meisso district was purposively selected. At the second stage, four PAs were randomly selected among sesame growers PAs using random sampling method. Finally, 140 sample respondents were selected from the sampling frame based on probability proportional to size of sesame growers (PPS) random sampling method. In this study, data were obtained from 140 randomly selected households through personal interview conducted by trained enumerators using pre-tested interview schedule and from group and individual discussions, as well as the researcher’s personal observations. In addition, secondary data were collected from relevant sources such as research, zonal and district office of agriculture and others. In order to describe and compare different categories of the sample units with respect to the desired characteristics, mean, standard deviation and percentage were computed. Furthermore, chi-square and an independent sample t-test were used to identify variables that vary significantly between adopters and non-adopter.Logistic regression (binary logit) analysis was used to identify the relative importance of the various factors associated with adoption of improved sesame varieties. The economic analysis using the partial budgeting method and price sensitivity analysis was also used to ascertain the profitability of the adopted improved sesame technologies. The result of the study indicated that about 42.9% of the sample respondents were adopters of the improved sesame varieties, while 57.1 % non- adopters.The survey result also revealed that knowledge/information from farmer to farmer knowledge sharing at their work and market place was found to exert a significant impact on the probability of improved sesame varieties adoption by farmers. This was due to the farmers perceived that the information is most relevant, trusted and frequently accessible for the farmers decision making to adopt improved sesame technology. Innovative farmers are not only as source of knowledge of technology but also they are the source of improved seed for the majority of the adopters in the study area.Results of the logistic regression analysis indicate that among ,18 xvi identified explanatory variables nine of them significantly influenced adoption of improved sesame varieties.Education,sex, family labor supply, livestock onwership,total farm income earned ,perception on varieties attributes, farmer to farmers knowledge sharing and experience in sesame crop production have associated singificantly and positively with adoption of improved sesame varieties.whereas,distance from market center has associated significantly but negatively. The partial budget results also indicate that improved sesame varieties was highly profitable as against local cultivars sesame .The overall finding of the study underlined the high importance of institutional support in the areas of extension service to insist farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing and market to enhance adoption of improved sesame varieties. There is also need to consider farmers’ views during the new sesame technology development, evaluation and dissemination process because farmer views help scientists to design, test and recommend new technologies in light of information about farmers’ criteria for usefulness of the innovation. Moreover, due attention and policy consideration has to be given by government to those significant variables which have a potential impact in determining farmer’s adoption decision in the study area

Knowledge and practice of infant exposure to sunlight among mothers in the rural villages of Mettu district, southwest Ethiopia

BackgroundSunlight is essential for the synthesis of vitamin D and supports bone growth and strength. The awareness of mothers about the benefit of exposing their infants to sunlight, as well as the practice of doing so, is important to a child’s proper growth and development. The current study looked into mothers’ knowledge, practice, and factors related to infant sunlight exposure in rural villages in the Mettu district, southwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study design was utilized with randomly selected mothers of newborns from rural areas in the Mettu district. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information. Analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS version 21 software. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out, and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsAmong the 600 mothers who participated in the present study, 397 (66.2%) had good knowledge and 346 (57.7%) practiced proper exposure of their infants to sunlight. Out of the 482 mothers who practiced sunning, 382 (79.3%) did it daily, and 409 (84.8%) began sunning before 45 days of birth. However, 453 (94%) of the mothers used lubricants while sunbathing. Sociodemographic characteristics were found to have statistically significant associations with the level of knowledge and practice of mothers. Mothers with four to six children [AOR = 0.511, 95% CI: (0.352–0.741)] and those who got the information from health professionals [AOR = 3.285, 95% CI: (2.154, 5.011)] for the knowledge level, and mothers aged 36 years old and above [AOR = 0.801, 95% CI: (0.533, 0.161)], who were married during the data collection period [AOR = 0.370, 95% CI: (0.155, 0.884)], and employed by the government [AOR = 4.081, CI: (1.477, 11.280)] for the practice level were found to be significantly (p < 0.05) associated with the level of infant sunning.ConclusionDespite the fact that the majority of mothers in the study area had good knowledge and practice of infant sunlight exposure, there are clear signs that further work is needed to narrow the large gap seen in the present findings. Thus, district and zonal health offices, as well as stakeholders working with children, should start periodical maternity health education, and professional development training for health post workers

Envy-free Relaxations for Goods, Chores, and Mixed Items

In fair division problems, we are given a set $S$ of $m$ items and a set $N$ of $n$ agents with individual preferences, and the goal is to find an allocation of items among agents so that each agent finds the allocation fair. There are several established fairness concepts and envy-freeness is one of the most extensively studied ones. However envy-free allocations do not always exist when items are indivisible and this has motivated relaxations of envy-freeness: envy-freeness up to one item (EF1) and envy-freeness up to any item (EFX) are two well-studied relaxations. We consider the problem of finding EF1 and EFX allocations for utility functions that are not necessarily monotone, and propose four possible extensions of different strength to this setting. In particular, we present a polynomial-time algorithm for finding an EF1 allocation for two agents with arbitrary utility functions. An example is given showing that EFX allocations need not exist for two agents with non-monotone, non-additive, identical utility functions. However, when all agents have monotone (not necessarily additive) identical utility functions, we prove that an EFX allocation of chores always exists. As a step toward understanding the general case, we discuss two subclasses of utility functions: Boolean utilities that are $\{0,+1\}$-valued functions, and negative Boolean utilities that are $\{0,-1\}$-valued functions. For the latter, we give a polynomial time algorithm that finds an EFX allocation when the utility functions are identical.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

Intimate Partner Violence, prevalence and its consequences: a community-based study in Gambella, Ethiopia

AbstractIntroductionIntimate partner violence is defined as any behavior by a current or past male intimate partner during marriage, cohabitation, or any other formal or informal union that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm. Men are the most common perpetrators of this against women. It affects almost one-third of all women worldwide.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the prevalence, consequences, and factors associated with intimate partner violence among partnered women in Gambella town.MethodsA community-based, cross-sectional study design was employed. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data was collected using a pretested, structured questionnaire. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS software version 25. The bivariate and multivariate logistic regression method was used to identify factors associated with intimate partner violence. Variables with a p-value <0.05 were considered significantly associated with intimate partner violence.ResultsThe overall prevalence of intimate partner violence in the lifetime and the last 12 months was 58.8, 95% CI (54.0, 63.6), and 51.8, 95% CI (46.7, 56.8), respectively. More than half (53.3%) of the violence resulted in physical injury, while 32.9% were separated from their partners whereas, mother’s history of exposure to IPV [AOR: 1.8, 95% CI (1.03–3.27), p < 0.05], respondent’s age [AOR: 3.4, 95% CI (1.8, 6.5), p < 0.001], substance use [AOR:2.5, 95% CI (1.5–4.1), p < 0.001], disagreement on sexual intercourse [AOR:3.2, 95% CI (1.8–5.7), p < 0.01], monthly family income [AOR:0.32, 95% CI: (0.16–0.63), p < 0.01] and family size [AOR:2.8, 95% CI: (1.6–4.8), p < 0.01] were significantly associated with IPV.ConclusionThe study indicated that the prevalence of intimate partner violence was very high. Age of the woman, family size, substance use, economic status, were among factors significantly associated with intimate partner violence. Therefore, responsible stakeholders should respond to the deep-rooted and highly complicated gender inequality by implementing preventive measures

Setting up child health and mortality prevention surveillance in Ethiopia

Background: Mortality rates for children under five years of age, and stillbirth risks, remain high in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network aims to ascertain causes of child death in high child mortality settings (>50 deaths/1000 live-births). We aimed to develop a “greenfield” site for CHAMPS, based in Harar and Kersa, in Eastern Ethiopia. This very high mortality setting (>100 deaths/1000 live-births in Kersa) had limited previous surveillance capacity, weak infrastructure and political instability. Here we describe site development, from conception in 2015 to the end of the first year of recruitment. Methods: We formed a collaboration between Haramaya University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and engaged community, national and international partners to support a new CHAMPS programme. We developed laboratory infrastructure and recruited and trained staff. We established project specific procedures to implement CHAMPS network protocols including; death notifications, clinical and demographic data collection, post-mortem minimally invasive tissue sampling, microbiology and pathology testing, and verbal autopsy. We convened an expert local panel to determine cause-of-death. In partnership with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute we developed strategies to improve child and maternal health. Results: Despite considerable challenge, with financial support, personal commitment and effective partnership, we successfully initiated CHAMPS. One year into recruitment (February 2020), we had received 1173 unique death notifications, investigated 59/99 MITS-eligible cases within the demographic surveillance site, and assigned an underlying and immediate cause of death to 53 children. Conclusions: The most valuable data for global health policy are from high mortality settings, but initiating CHAMPS has required considerable resource. To further leverage this investment, we need strong local research capacity and to broaden the scientific remit. To support this, we have set up a new collaboration, the “Hararghe Health Research Partnership”

The Feasibility of Applying EU Data Protection Law to Biological Materials: Challenging ‘Data’ as Exclusively Informational

Though controversial the question of applying data protection laws to biological materials has only gotten a little attention in data privacy discourse. This article aims to contribute to this dearth by arguing that despite absence of positive intention from the architects to apply the EU Data privacy law to biological materials, a range of developments in Molecular Biology and nano-technology—usually mediated by advances in ICT—may provide persuasive grounds to do so. In addition, paucity of sufficient explication of key terms like ‘data/information’ in these legislations may fuel such tendency whereby laws originally intended for the informational world may end up applying to the biological world. The article also analyzes various predicaments that may arise from applying data privacy laws to biological materials. A focus is made on legislative sources at the EU level though national laws are relied on when pertinent