8,806 research outputs found
Business opportunities in the Ethiopian fruit and vegetable sector
The horticultural sector in Ethiopia is growing strongly. Major part of this growth is created by investments in the floriculture sector. Recently more and more in terest from the Dutch private sector is shown in the Ethiopian fruits and vegeta ble sector. Export of fruit and vegetables has been limited but is now growing strongly with new investors coming in. Both in Europe and in the Middle East there is a growing interest for products from Ethiopia. Presently, the main export products are fresh beans, strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and fresh herbs. A potential new crop is table grapes. The Government of Ethiopia gives high pri ority to the development of the horticulture sector and in 2008 the Horticultural Development Agency has been established with a specific focus to promote and support the further development of the horticulture sector. It is concluded that the further development of the fruit and vegetable sector in Ethiopia for export to Europe and the Middle East has good perspectives and provides interesting opportunities for foreign investors. The sector is however still in its infant stage. Facilitating conditions for doing business are not yet op timal, but are expected to improve in the near future. For growers who consider starting operations in Ethiopia it is important to carefully select a location and ensure getting the logistical and cool chain well organised beforehand. For companies considering sourcing from Ethiopia it is important to build good relations with the potential growers, provide hands on guidance and train ing and invest in organising the logistical supply chain well
Pilot to improve linkage of domestic tomato supply chains to local high segment markets
The pilot aims to link smallholder tomato farmers in both Kenya and Tanzania to local high segment markets as supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and hospitals
Diffusion processes in demographic transitions: a prospect on using multi agent simulation to explore the role of cognitive strategies and social interactions
Multi agent simulation (MAS) is a tool that can be used to explore the dynamics of different systems. Considering that many demographic phenomena have roots in individual choice behaviour and social interactions it is important that this behaviour is being translated in agent rules. Several behaviour theories are relevant in this context, and hence there is a necessity of using a meta-theory of behaviour as a framework for the development of agent rules. The consumat approach provides a basis for such a framework, as is demonstrated with a discussion of modelling the diffusion of contraceptives. These diffusion processes are strongly influenced by social processes and cognitive strategies. Different possible research lines are discussed which might be addressed with a multi-agent approach like the consumats.
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Security analysis of the micro transport protocol with a misbehaving receiver
BitTorrent is the most widely used Peer-to-Peer (P2P) protocol and it comprises the largest share of traffic in Europe. To make BitTorrent more Internet Service Provider (ISP) friendly, BitTorrent Inc. invented the Micro Transport Protocol (uTP). It is based on UDP with a novel congestion control called Low Extra Delay Background Transport (LEDBAT). This protocol assumes that the receiver always gives correct feedback, since otherwise this deteriorates throughput or yields to corrupted data. We show through experimental investigation that a misbehaving uTP receiver, which is not interested in data integrity, can increase the bandwidth of the sender by up to five times. This can cause a congestion collapse and steal large share of a victimâs bandwidth. We present three attacks, which increase the bandwidth usage significantly. We have tested these attacks in a real world environment and show its severity both in terms of number of packets and total traffic generated. We also present a countermeasure for protecting against the attacks and evaluate the performance of that defence strategy
Sustainable tea production : an assessment of farmer field schools in Kenya
This report presents the results of the KTDA/Lipton Sustainable Agriculture Project. The aim of the KTDA/Lipton Sustainable Agriculture Project is to increase the sustainability of tea production by increasing the rate of adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and thereby directly improve profitability. In 2006 the Kenya Tea Development Agency and Lipton started four pilot Farmer Field Schools (FFS). The results of the four pilot FFS are encouraging. Although no quantitative increase in tea production per acre due to the FFS could be observed, overwhelming evidence has been gathered about the increase of knowledge on and implementation of GAPs. This will have short and long-term benefits for smallholders engaged in FFS. Indirect effects of the FFS were better group cohesion and strengthened learning capacities. The pilot suggests that FFS are a more efficient way of extending production management techniques than the traditional extension methodolog
Improving the Tanzanian-Mombasa cross-border tomato product chain: a study of Mombasa tomato market : draft report
The study of Mombasa tomato market is part of the project âDevelopment of Commercial Field Vegetable Production, Distribution and Marketing for the East African Marketâ. The project is implementing a pilot activity on improving crossborder tomato chains from Ngarenanyuki, Tanzania, to Mombasa, Kenya. The overall objective of the study was to assess the requirements, institutional setting and current supply issues of the Mombasa tomato market and to describe the supply chain logistics and characteristics
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