Establishing financial markets in Ethiopia: the environmental foundation, challenges and opportunities

This paper intends to examine the environmental foundation for establishing financial markets in Ethiopia, identify the potential challenges and opportunities. The environmental foundation is assessed using the PEST (political, economic, social and technological) perspectives. Emphasis is given to identify the roles that financial markets can play in expediting Ethiopian economy, the environmental factors that need to be analyzed the current situation of Ethiopia in terms of each factor. An exhaustive analysis of literature has been made on the secondary data obtained from different sources. The research method employed in the study has both qualitative and quantitative features. The findings of the study are presumed to be of paramount importance in providing input information for policy makers towards establishing financial markets in Ethiopia. As a way forward the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) need to take timely actions to further investigate the environmental situation to establish financial markets, appreciate the potential opportunities and make preparations towards addressing the direct challenges.Keywords: Financial Market, Securities Market, Environment, Governanc

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about Malaria Transmission and Its Preventive Measures among Households in Urban Areas of Assosa Zone, Western Ethiopia

Background: Knowledge about the modes of transmission and preventive measures of malaria are important preceding factors for the acceptance and use of proven control tools by the community. Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) about modes of malaria transmission and preventive methods in the study areas. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three urban areas of Assosa zone, Western Ethiopia from January to February, 2006. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS for windows version 12.0.1. Adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were employed to test the strength of association. Results: About 48% of the study participants were aware that malaria can be transmitted by mosquito bites. Thirty percent (30%), of respondents were aware that mosquitoes carry disease causing microorganism, 95% were aware that mosquitoes bite during night, and 61% were aware that mosquitoes rest at dark places inside the house. Sleeping under a mosquito net and eliminating mosquito-breeding sites were identified by 58% and 52% of respondents, respectively, as major malaria preventive measures. Respondents' education and wealth status were associated with comprehensive knowledge on malaria preventive measures (OR= 2.42, 95% CI: 1.09, 5.4 and OR= 3.89, 95% CI: 1.99, 7.6, respectively). Conclusion: Knowledge of the role of mosquitoes in malaria transmission and comprehensive knowledge about malaria prevention strategies among the study population were observed to be lower than 50%. Comprehensive behavioral change and communication is required to improve the knowledge of the mode of malaria transmission and its preventive and control measures.The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 21 (2) 2007: pp. 157-16

Landscape positions dictating crop fertilizer responses in wheat-based farming systems of East African Highlands

Improving fertilizer use efficiency has remained a challenge, particularly for small-scale farming in undulating ‘abnormal’ landscapes of East Africa. Milne's 1930s concept on ‘Catena’ was considered as a breakthrough in understanding soil variability and its implication on productivity in East African highlands. However, there is limited information on how the ‘Catena’ features could be used for fine tuning fertilizer recommendations. We initiated multiple on-farm replicated experiments in three wheat-growing districts (Endamohoni, Lemo and Worreilu) in the Ethiopian highlands in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to assess landscape positions affecting crop-nutrient responses, identify yield limiting nutrients across the ‘Catena’ (N, P, K, S and Zn) and quantify effects of landscape positions on resources use efficiency. We clustered farmlands across the ‘Catena’ (Hillslopes, Midslopes and Footslopes) based on land scape positions in the respective locations. Wheat yield was more strongly and significantly affected by landscape positions (P N92 P46) while differences between landscape positions diminish at lower rates. Yield benefits due to application of K was significant only in the dry years (P < 0.05), while there was hardly any yield benefit from the application of zinc and sulfur. The crop nitrogen recovery fraction and crop water productivity decreased with an increasing slope regardless of nutrient combinations. The results indicated that the landscape position could be considered as a proxy indicator for targeted fertilizer application, particularly in farms with undulating topographic features. Hillslopes are better served by the application of organic fertilizers along with conservation measures as applying higher rates of mineral fertilizer in hillslopes would rather increase the risk of downstream nutrient movement

Multilevel proportional odds modeling of anaemia prevalence among under five years old children in Ethiopia

Abstract Background Despite anaemia is the leading cause of child morbidity and mortality in Africa including Ethiopia, there is inadequate evidence on modelling anaemia related factors among under five years old children in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess factors that affect the anaemia status among under five years old children and estimate the proportion of overall child-level variation in anaemia status that is attributable to various factors in three regions of Ethiopia, namely Amhara, Oromiya and Southern Nation Nationalities People (SNNP). Methods This is a cross-sectional study, and the data was extracted from the 2011 Ethiopia National Malaria Indicator Survey which is a national representative survey in the country. A sample of 4,356 under five years old children were obtained from three regions. Based on child hemoglobin level, anaemia status was classified as non-anaemia (>11.0g/dL), mild anaemia (8.0-11.0g/dL), moderate anaemia (5.0-8.0g/dL) and severe anaemia (<5.0g/dL). Various multilevel proportional odds models with random Kebele effects were adopted taking into account the survey design weights. All the models were fitted with the PROC GLIMMIX in SAS. The Brant test for parallel lines assumption was done using the brant() function from brant package in R environment. Results The prevalence of anaemia status of under five years children varies among the three study regions, where the prevalence of severe child anaemia status was higher in Oromiya region as compared to Amhara and SNNP regions. The results of this study indicate that age (OR = 0.686; 95% CI: 0.632, 0.743), malaria RDT positive (OR = 4.578; 95% 2.804, 7.473), household had used mosquito nets while sleeping (OR = 0.793; 95%: 0.651, 0.967), household wealth status and median altitude (OR = 0.999; 95%: 0.9987, 0.9993), were significantly related to the prevalence of child anaemia infection. The percentage of Kebele-level variance explained by the region and median altitude, and child / household (Level 1) characteristics was 32.1 % . Hence, large part of the Kebele-level variance (67.9%) remain unexplained. Conclusions The weighted multilevel proportional odds with random Kebele effects model used in this paper identified four child/household and one Kebele level risk factors of anaemia infection. Therefore, the public health policy makers should focus to those significant factors. The results also show regional variation in child anaemia prevalence, thus special attention should be given to those children living in regions with high anaemia prevalence

Mega-Environment Targeting of Maize Varieties using Ammi and GGE Bi-Plot Analysis in Ethiopia

አህፅሮት በቆሎ በኢትዮጵያ  ከሚመረቱ የምግብ ሰብሎች መካከል በምርትና ምርታማነቱ ግንባር ቀደም ስፍራን የያዘ ሰብል ነው፡፡  የሰብሉን ምርታማነት ከሚደግፉ የተለያዩ መንስዔዎች  ውስጥ በዋናነት ከፍተኛውን  ቦታ  የሚይዙት ከጥናትና ምርምር  የተገኙ የተሻሻሉ ዝርያዎች ቢሆኑም ሁሉም ዝርያዎች   በበቆሎ አብቃይ ስነ-ምህዳሮች  ላይ ተዘርተው  በምርታማነታቸው ወጥነት የማያሳዩ መሆናቸው ይታወቃል፡፡ እንደየአካባቢው የአይር ፀባይ፤ የአፈር ዓይነትና የዝናብ መጠን እንዲሁም የመሬት ከባህር ወለል ከፍታ ልዩነት የተነሳ በምርታማነታቸው ለየአካባቢው ተመራጭና ተመራጭ ያልሆኑ ዝርያዎችን መለየት ይቻላል፡፡ በዚህ ምክንያት ለተለያዩ ዝርያዎች ምርታማነት ተስማሚና ወካይ የሆኑ ስፍራዎችን  ለይቶ በማወቅ የትኛው ዝርያ በየትኛው ስፍራ ላይ ቢዘራ  ሁለንተናዊ የአካባቢ ባህሪያትን  ተላብሶ ከፍተኛ ምርት ሊሰጥ ይችላል?  እንዲሁም የትኛቹ ስፍራዎች በአየር ንብረት ተቀራራቢነት በጥቅል ተደምረው አንድ ዝርያ በወጥነት  በሁሉም ስፍራ ተዘርቶ ምርታማ የሚያደርጋቸውን አካባቢዎች ለይቶ ለማወቅ ጥናቱ ተደረገ፡፡ ጥናቱ ለምርት በምርምር የተለቀቁ  19 ዲቃላ የበቆሎ ዝርያዎችን በማካተት  ወይናደጋማና ደጋማ ስፍራዎች ላይ ተዘርተው የተለያዩ መረጃዎችን  በማሰባሰብ እንዲጠናቀር ከተደረገ በኋላ ለጥናቱ ስኬት   ከፍተኛ ትኩረት ተሰጥቶት  ለውሳኔ  እንዲያመች ከየአካባቢው የተሰበሰቡ የዝርያዎቹ ምርት አግባብ ባላቸው ሳይንሳዊ ዘዴዎች እንዲሰሉ ተደረገ፡፡ በስሌቱ መሰረት ከዝርያዎቹ በአማካይ በሔክታር 4.47 ( BH545)  እስከ 7.49  ( BH546) ቶን  ምርት ተመዘገበ፡፡ እንዲሁም በተደረገው ስሌት G14  እና  G1  ተብለው የተለዩ ዝርያዎች ለአብዛኞቹ የጥናቱ ስፍራዎች ተስማሚ  እንደሆኑ  ቢታወቅም  BH546  በሚባል ስያሜ የሚለየው ዝርያ በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ተመራጭ እንደሆነ ለማረጋገጥ ተችለሏል፡፡ በሌላ በኩል E9  በተባለ ምህፃረ-ቃል የሚለይ ስፍራ በአብዛኛው ዝርያዎች  ተመራጭ እንደሆነ ስሌቱ ሲያሳይ ፤ E1  የተባለው ግን ተመራጭ እንዳልሆነ ታውቋል፡፡ ሆኖም ግን 11 የጥናት ስፍራዎች በሶስት ዋና ዋና ፤ እያንዳንዳቸው በዝርዎቹ ምርታማነት የጎላ ልዩነት በሚታይባቸው ወጥ ክፍሎች እንደተከፈሉ የስሌቱ ውጤት ለይቶ አሳይቷል፡፡ በዚህ መሰረት E9 በሚል ስያሜ የሚለየው ስፍራ በብቸኝንት እንደ አንድ ዋና ክፍል የተከፈለ ሲሆን በሁለተኛ  ክፍል ውስጥ  በጥቅል  ዘጠኝ  አካባቦዎች  E1, E2, E3, E5, E6, E7, E8  እና E11  በአንድነት ተደመሩ፤ እንዲሁም  E4 እና  E10 በሶስተኛው ክፍል ውስጥ ተመደቡ፡፡ E3, E5 and, E7 በተባሉ ምህፃረ-ቃል የተለዩ ስፍራዎች ለዝርዎቹ ምርታማነት ወካይና ተመራጭ መሆናቸውን ጥናቱ አሳየ፡፡  ነገር ግን E4, E9 and E10  የተባሉ አካባቢዎች በውስን ስፍራዎች ውስጥ  ምርታማ የሚሆኑ  ዝርያዎችን መለየት የሚችሉ መሆናቸውን ጥናቱ ያረጋግጣል፡፡  በሌላ በኩል E8 and E11 የተባሉ ስፍራዎች የዝርያዎችን ምርታማነትና ተመራጭነት  በጉልህ ለማሳየት ምንም አስተዋፅዖ ያላበረከቱ መሆናቸውን ጥናቱ አሳይቷል፡፡ በመጨረሻም የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት ወጥነት ያላቸው ሶስት ዋና ዋና ስነ-ምህዳራትን ለይቷል፤  ዝርይዎች በምርታማነታቸው   ተመራጭነት  የሚኖራቸውንና  የማይኖራቸውነ  ለይተው የሚያሳዩ ስፍራዎችን  ጠቁሟል እንዲሁም በምርታማነቱና ለአብዛኛው አካባቢዎች  በወጥነት ተስማሚነቱን የሜያሳይ ዝርያ ለይቶ አሳይቷል፡፡ Abstract In multi-location experimental trials, test locations must be selected to properly discriminate between varieties and to be representative of the target regions. The objective of this study were to evaluate test locations in terms of discrimination ability, representativeness, and desirability, and to investigate the presence of mega-environments using AMMI and GGE models and to suggest representative environments for breeding and variety testing purposes.  Among 19 maize varieties tested across 11 environments, mean grain yield ranged between 4.47 t/ha (BH545) to 7.49 t/ha (BH546). Both AMMI and GGE  models identified   G14 and G1 as  desirable hybrids for cultivation   because they combined stability and higher average yield. Nonetheless, as confirmed by GGE analysis BH546 was most closest to the ideal genotype hence, considered as best hybrid.  Environment wise, E9 and E4 were the most stable and unstable test environments, respectively. The 11 test environments fell into three apparent mega-environments.  E9 formed one group by its own, E1, E2, E3, E5, E6, E7, E8 and E11 formed the second group and E4 and E10 formed the third group.  E3, E5 and, E7 were both discriminating and representative therefore are favorable environments for selecting generally adapted genotypes. E4, E9 and E10 were discriminating but non-representative test environments thus are useful for selecting specifically adapted genotypes. E8 and E11 were non-discriminating test environments hence little information about the genotypes. The results of this study helped to identify mega-environments, also representativeness and discriminating power of test environments better visualized with the GGE bi-plot model

Assessment of geomagnetic storm effects over Ethiopian ionosphere by using GPS measurements

197-209In this paper we have investigated the effects of geomagnetic storm on the variation of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF Bz), disturbance storm time (Dst), solar wind speed and total electron content (TEC) over Ethiopian ionosphere. A total of 17 geomagnetic storms have analysed by using ground based Global Positioning System (GPS) stations at Bahir Dar (11o N, 38o E), Debark(4.32o N, 109.48o E), Armi (3.03o N, 109.29o E), Nazret (8.57o N, 39.29o E), Robe(7.60o N, 40oE), Assosa (1.14o N, 106.16o E), and Ambo( 8.59o N, 37.51o E) from the years 2010 to 2013. The results have revealed that there is a mixed effect of geomagnetic storm on the variation of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF Bz), disturbance storm time (Dst), solar wind speed and total electron content (TEC), however, most of the effects were positive and might be attributed to the prompt penetration electric fields (PPEFs) and disturbed dynamo fields

Feeding your soil-nurturing the people

United States Agency for International Developmen

The Effect of Succinic Acid on Metabolic Profile in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance

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Decision support tools for fertilizer recommendation

United States Agency for International Developmen

Natural resource management: Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from the Ethiopian highlands

United States Agency for International Developmen