15 research outputs found
The ABC method â proposed implementation in a structural steel industry
Nowadays there are a large variety of contributions in the area of costing systems describing a lot of different possibilities. The difficulty lies in choosing the best one for each company. As a matter of fact each company is different from another and it is necessary to âlook insideâ each one and understand very clearly how their costing structures function. Know where companyâs costs lie is the best way to reduce them and to determine the correct price of the product. It is thus essential that the company may have a good costing system that will allow it to possess the highest level of information and will be a support to the decision making process. From among all the new approaches, this paper will analyze the costing system based on Activities (ABC). Its objective is to understand the application of ABC as a costing system and to classify implementation methodologies. The ABC costing system was implemented in Martifer ConstruçÔes, a Portuguese industrial company that manufactures metallic structures, as an alternative method. Work took place within company production facilities and a check has been carried out of costing problem details and the companyâs expenses system. The purpose of this study is to validate the ABC method in this company, to provide a tool to support work and to reach a conclusion about the real advantages and disadvantages of implementing this method. This study will help leaders and managers of the company to make decisions about implementation of the method, as well as helping to increase knowledge of the matter, providing a useful tool to the company
A Biodiverse Rich Environment Does Not Contribute to a Better Diet: A Case Study from DR Congo
The potential of biodiversity to increase and sustain nutrition security is increasingly recognized by the international research community. To date however, dietary assessment studies that have assessed how biodiversity actually contributes to human diets are virtually absent. This study measured the contribution of wild edible plants (WEP) to the dietary quality in the high biodiverse context of DR Congo. The habitual dietary intake was estimated from 2 multiple-pass 24 h dietary recalls for 363 urban and 129 rural women. All WEP were collected during previous ethnobotanical investigations and identified and deposited in the National Botanical Garden of Belgium (BR). Results showed that in a high biodiverse region with precarious food security, WEP are insufficiently consumed to increase nutrition security or dietary adequacy. The highest contribution came from Dacryodes edulis in the village sample contributing 4.8% of total energy intake. Considering the nutrient composition of the many WEP available in the region and known by the indigenous populations, the potential to increase nutrition security is vast. Additional research regarding the dietary contribution of agricultural biodiversity and the nutrient composition of WEP would allow to integrate them into appropriate dietary guidelines for the region and pave the way to domesticate the most interesting WEP
Domestication of Dacryodes edulis: state-of-the-art
Dacryodes edulis is one of the important local fruit tree species of West and Central Africa. This paper reviews the activities of a regional programme to domesticate high-value indigenous fruit trees in the region. This programme is coordinated by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and implemented in Cameroon in collaboration with the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), National Agricultural Extension and Research Programme (PNVRA) agents and NGOs and universities of the region. It is based on a participatory approach to domestication that is in marked contrast to that of food crop domestication under the Green Revolution. The participatory process with farmers started with priority setting between species, progressed to germplasm collection and the establishment of village nurseries for clonal propagation of superior trees, and is currently involved in the selection of superior trees for cultivar development. Work is also in progress on post-harvest processing, market development and the integration of cultivars into agroforestry systems
Chemical composition of Ricinodendron heudelotii: An indigenous fruit tree in southern Cameroon
An ethnobotanical survey and germplasm collection of Ricinodendron heudelotii (Bail.) (an indigenous fruit tree) were carried out in six provinces of the humid rainforest zone in southern Cameroon. Fruit samples were collected at 40-50 km intervals along the main road network of the zone, from homegardens, food crop as well as cash crop fields, bush fallow and primary forest land uses. At each point, 100 fruits were randomly collected under a tree chosen by farmers. A total of 47 accessions or tree provenances were sampled in 47 different villages. Kernels (cotyledons) or the edible parts of these fruits were analysed for fat, crude protein, ash and crude fibre. Total carbohydrates and energy values were also determined. The edible parts of Ricinodendron heudelotii were found to have a very high fat content (49.2 to 63.5 %) and crude protein (49.9 to 65.2%), and low total carbohydrates (4.9 to 6.4 %). The highest values for crude fibre and total ash were 9.37 and 17.76%, respectively. The species also gave higher energy values (2,748 to 3,558 KJ 100g-1 DM) as compared to food crops (84-2500 KJ 100 -1 DM). Two provenances, FTKC 27 and FTKC 32, were classified as high and low energy âideotypesâ.
Key Words: Ricinodendron, nutrition, quality
(African Crop Science Journal: 2000, 8(2): 195-201
Les fruitiers forestiers comestibles du Cameroun
Ce livre, synthÚse des connaissances sur les fruitiers forestiers comestibles du Cameroun, a pour objectif de fournir aux praticiens et aux décideurs des informations sur ces plantes qui jouent un rÎle trÚs important dans la vie des populations du Cameroun en particulier et de l'Afrique sub-Saharienne en général. Il met également l'accent sur les savoirs locaux et les pratiques endogÚnes en matiÚre de conservation et de domestication des espÚces concernées. Les différents aspects abordés sont les suivants: la description botanique, la distribution géographique, l'écologie et la phénologie, les informations sur la variabilité génétique, la domestication, la conservation de la ressource, la sylviculture, les usages alimentaires, les autres formes d'utilisation et l'importance socioculturelle et économique de ces espÚces
Domestication of Dacryodes edulis: 1. Phenotypic variation of fruit traits from 100 trees in southeast Nigeria
Tree domestication in tropical agroforestry
We execute tree âdomesticationâ as a farmer-driven and market-led process, which matches the intraspecific\ud
diversity of locally important trees to the needs of subsistence farmers, product markets, and agricultural environments. We propose that the products of such domesticated trees are called Agroforestry Tree Products (AFTPs) to distinguish them from the extractive tree resources commonly referred to as non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The steps of such a domestication process are: selection of priority species based on their expected products or services; definition of an appropriate domestication strategy considering the farmer-, market-, and landscape needs; sourcing, documentation and deployment of germplasm (seed, seedlings or clonal material); and tree improvement research (tree breeding or cultivar selection pathways). The research phase may involve research institutions on their own or in participatorymode with the stakeholders such as farmers or communities.Working directly with the end-users is advantageous towards economic, social and environmental goals, especially in developing countries. Two case studies (Prunus africana and Dacryodes edulis) are presented to highlight the approaches used for medicinal and fruit-producing species. Issues for future development include the expansion of the program to a\ud
wider range of species and their products and the strengthening of the links between product commercialization\ud
and domestication. It is important to involve the food industry in this process, while protecting the intellectual\ud
property rights of farmers to their germplasm