Land Registration and Land Investment: The case of Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia

The study explored whether land titling fostered tenure security and, thereby, increased investment on land improvement. We assessed the determinants of the probability and intensity of investment by using random effects and modified random effects probit and truncated regression models on 437 randomly selected households operating 1696 plots from eighteen selected communities (tabias) located in the five zones of the Tigray Region. Findings indicated that registration enhanced holders’ feeling of tenure security, there was significant increase in probability and composition of investments, and increased private initiatives. The likelihood and the intensity of conservation were low on land lost in the last redistribution or taken away by the public for different purposes. Length of tenure, initial investment, and access to food-for-work positively influenced the likelihood and intensity of conservation. Households with more livestock, land holding and adult male labor (although significant only in the random effects probit and at 10 percent level) were found to be more likely to make investments on land. Moreover, the intensity of investment was significantly influenced by the year of registration. Finally, households operating rented-in land were found to be less likely to and invested less indicating that tenants commit fewer resources to longterm investments because they strive to maximize immediate benefits. There were various time invariant household and plot level characteristics that influenced the probability and intensity of conservation. This calls for policy makers to minimize the potential sources of insecurity such as threats of future land redistribution and land taking without proper land compensation. Moreover, land registration/certification is vital for creating tenure security; this has to out scaled throughout the country.Keywords: titling, tenure security, conservation investment, random effects model; Ethiopia, Africa

Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls from Rural Communities of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Background: Addressing the nutritional needs of adolescents could be an important step towards breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational malnutrition. Objective: Assess nutritional status of rural adolescent girls. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: Anthropometric and socio-demographic information from 211 adolescent girls representing 650 randomly selected households from thirteen communities in Tigray was used in data analysis. Height-for-age and BMI-for-age were compared to the 2007 WHO growth reference. Data were analyzed using SAS, Version 9.1. Results: None of the households reported access to adolescent micronutrient supplementation. The girls were shorter and thinner than the 2007 WHO reference population. The cross-sectional prevalence of stunting and thinness were 26.5% and 58.3%, respectively. Lack of latrine facilities was significantly associated with stunting (p = 0.0033) and thinness (p <0.0001). Age was strong predictor of stunting (r(2) = 0.8838, p <0.0001) and thinness (r(2) = 0.3324, p <0.0001). Conclusion: Undernutrition was prevalent among the girls. Strategies to improve the nutritional status of girls need to go beyond the conventional maternal and child health care programs to reach girls before conception to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. Further, carefully designed longitudinal studies are needed to identify the reasons for poor growth throughout the period of adolescence in this population. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2009; 23(1):5-11

Experiment of oxygenated fuel on diesel engine: Performance, emission and particulate matter

The main purpose of the study is to characterise the effects of diesel, biodiesel blends B5M10 and B10M10 and emulsion fuels B5M10E3 and B10M10E3 as fuels for the impact on particulate matter emission. Engine tests have been performed to obtain results of engine performance, gas emission and particulate matter with various cycles. Excel analysis methods were used to analysethe data obtained.The B5M10E3 produces lowe

Effect Of Emulsification And Blending On The Oxygenation And Substitution Of Diesel Fuel For Compression Ignition Engine

Global emission standards are getting more stringent in which the existing diesel engine technologies are on the brink of losing their permit to operate. While there are successful engine side researches that can target the current emission norms, their implementation in existing engines will not be possible due to their higher price tag. With this respect, fuel side improvement with no or minimal modification to engine hardware is the best way to address the issue in the existing engines. The commonly used fuel oxygenators in diesel engines are water, alcohol, biodiesel and the combinations of these. The method of oxygenation and their corresponding results on the combustion, performance and emissions that have been reported in the literatures are widely varied. The current review article targets the blending and emulsification techniques used in the oxygenation and fuel substitution of diesel. Based on the misconceptions about the stability of emulsions, many researchers are found to use the term blending even though the technique they have used is emulsification. While blending of fuels is convenient for fuels which have relatively similar boiling temperature, emulsification technique should be followed for fuel mixtures of varied boiling temperature so that the benefit of micro-explosion can be reflected in the fuel atomization. Secondary atomization resulting from the micro-explosion phenomenon of emulsified fuels and fuel oxygenation are responsible for the improvement of combustion, performance and CO and PM emissions. Latent heat of vaporization is found to be responsible for the reduction of NOx emissions

Invitro Antibacterial Screening of Extracts from Selected Ethiopian Medicinal Plants

Indigenous knowledge, literature reports and ethnobotanical records suggest that plants are the basis for medicines. They constitute natural source of antimicrobial drugs that will provide novel or lead compounds for the fight against disease. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of three selected Ethiopian medicinal plants was studied with the objective of  screening their antibacterial activity. The fruits of Measalanceolata, aerial part of Cissus quadrangularis and leaf of Dodonae angustifolia were collected, air dried under shed, powdered and soaked in 80% methanol and extracted. In vitro antibacterial activity of the extracts was tested at different concentrations by using agar disc diffusion method and  measuring the zone of inhibition. The plant extracts showed broad  spectrum activity against gram positive (S. aureus) as well as gram  negative (E. coli) bacteria, except Cissus quadrangularis which did not show any activity against E. coli. Furthermore, the plant extracts had also  concentration dependant zone of inhibition against the tested bacteria. In fact, the highest activity was obtained for Dodonae angustifolia at  1000mg/ml against S. aureus. The activities are attributed to the presence of some secondary metabolites present in the tested plants which have been associated with antibacterial activities. This finding suggests that these medicinal plants can be potential source to isolate antibacterial drugs.Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Disc diffusion, E. coli, Plant extract and S. aureus

Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls from Rural Communities of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Background: Addressing the nutritional needs of adolescents could be an important step towards breaking the vicious cycle of intergenerational malnutrition.Objective: Assess nutritional status of rural adolescent girls.Design: Cross-sectional.Methods: Anthropometric and socio-demographic information from 211 adolescent girls representing 650 randomly selected households from thirteen communities in Tigray was used in data analysis. Height-for-age and BMI-for-age were compared to the 2007 WHO growth reference. Data were analyzed using SAS, Version 9.1.Results: None of the households reported access to adolescent micronutrient supplementation. The girls were shorter and thinner than the 2007 WHO reference population. The cross-sectional prevalence of stunting and thinness were 26.5% and 58.3%, respectively. Lack of latrine facilities was significantly associated with stunting (p = 0.0033) andthinness (

Agricultural technology adoption, seed access constraints and commercialization in Ethiopia

This article examines the driving forces behind farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural technologies and the causal impact of adoption on farmers’ integration into output market using data obtained from a random cross-section sample of 700 farmers in Ethiopia. We estimate a Double-Hurdle model to analyze the determinants of the intensity of technology adoption conditional on overcoming seed access constraints. We estimate the impact of technology adoption on farmers’ integration into output market by utilizing treatment effect model, regression based on propensity score as well as matching techniques to account for heterogeneity in the adoption decision, and for unobservable characteristics of farmers and their farm. Results show that knowledge of existing varieties, perception about the attributes of improved varieties, household wealth (livestock and land) and availability of active labor force are major determinants for adoption of improved technologies. Our results suggest that the adoption of improved agricultural technologies has a significant positive impact on farmers’ integration into output market and the findings are consistent across the three models suggesting the robustness of the results. This confirms the potential direct role of technology adoption on market participation among rural households, as higher productivity from improved technology translates into higher output market integration

Diesel and various blending nanoparticles based diesel, fuel properties study

In recent years, many researches have been performed to find suitable alternative fuels to petroleum products. In the present investigation, an experimental work has been carried out to examine the fuel properties test for pure diesel, diesel blended with silicon oxide nano, diesel blended with titanium oxide nano and diesel blended with graphene nanoplate which are namely as D, DS5, DT5 and DG5 respectively. The results indicated that the pure diesel fuel density is higher than DT5 by about 1%. However, this value is reduced to about 1% for DG5 and DS5 respectively compared to diesel fuel due to the blending effects. Meanwhile, in calorific value test, DS5 fuel energy content is lower than diesel by about 1.5%. However, this value is reduced to about 1.43% and 1.37% for DG5 and DT5 respectively compared to diesel fuel due to the blending effects