Deregulation of the Maize Marketing System of Swaziland and Implications for Food Security

Recent shortfalls in the supply of maize in the Kingdom of Swaziland have exacerbated the country's growing food insecurity and led to fresh calls for full deregulation of the maize marketing system. The proponents of deregulation believe that it eliminates inefficient production and service units by transferring resources to their best alternative uses. While the theoretical foundations for that position are not questionable, no studies have to date explicitly investigated the effects of the current arrangements and the potential effects of full deregulation. This paper reports on a study that examined the welfare effects of the regulation of the country's maize industry and considered the likely impacts of full deregulation of the industry. Using a partial equilibrium model, the study established that the current market arrangements for the maize industry are distortionary and make the maize marketing system of Swaziland highly uncompetitive. The results show that high efficiency losses result from the misallocation of productive resources and that these have been rising over the years. Consumption deadweight losses were also shown to be equally serious and put at risk the attainment of food security for the generality of the Swazi population. The paper sees deregulation as an important practical step to improve the competitiveness of the maize industry and enhance food security through creating the basis for more effective management of the internal maize distribution channel in Swaziland.Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, D6, F13, I3, L5, Q18,

Fire Protection Measures in Buildings: The Architect’s Design Role

The key elements of any fire protection system involve prevention, retardations, detection, extinguishments as well as rescue. Major advances have been made in all these elements and are continually improved and made increasingly effective by improvement in technology advancement. Advancement in Building design and construction can have significant improvement in fire safety, therefore, architects, need to adapt new techniques and new materials and incorporate them in their designs. They also need to liaise with fire professionals and engineers across the globe in order to update their knowledge in fire safety. In many countries, safety standards and laws were made as a guide to prevent fire conflagration, loss of assets or buildings, as well as protection of individual life, and architects follow such regulations during design. The fire protection codes, laws and standards are as such effectively implemented in advanced countries. Here in Nigeria there seem to be no adequate statutes in place, except the draft National fire Code. Architects in the country have to rely a lot on their personal fire protection knowledge and design dexterity to provide in building fire prevention and protection measures. Statutory Fire Safety Provisions should be established and administered by the 3 tiers of our government and such document must serve as a guideline in all architectural designs.    This paper therefore tries to give an insight into the role of architects as it relates to fire protection during design of buildings. Keywords: buildings, fires, prevention, safety, standards

EFFECT OF PRE-COPULATORY TREATMENT WITH AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACT OF Spondias mombin ON GESTATIONAL CHARACSTERISTICS OF RABBITS

Fifteen plurigravida rabbits weighing between 2.0 and 2.6 kg were used for the study of gestational characteristics after pre-copulatory oral administration of aqueous leaf extract of Spondias mombin. The fifteen does were divided into three groups of five does per group. Four untreated reproductively proven bucks kept separately in different cages were used for copulation. Dosages administered were 400mg/kg and 800mg/kg for groups A and B respectively while distilled water was served to control group C. Mating, pregnancy diagnosis using ultrasound and determination of birth parameters were conducted subsequently at the end of extract treatment. Average litter size,birth weight and gestation length observed in all dosage groups had statistically similar values (p≥0.05).However, it is worth noting the relatively higher values of average litter size in 800mg/kg dosage group and control (5.60±0.40) compared to 400mg/kg group (5.40±0.75) and the highest birth weight value recorded for 800mg/kg (46.63±3.55) compared to 400mg\kg group (45.30±3.22) and control (42.38±3.74). It was concluded that pre-copulatory administration of aqueous leaf extract of Spondias mombin at dosages as high as 800mg/kg to rabbit does not have deleterious effect on its prolificacy and does have pro-fertility tendencies.       &nbsp

Effect of Gender and Location on Students’ Achievement in Chemistry in Secondary Schools in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of gender and location on students’ achievement in chemistry in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. It was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. The sample of the study was made up of 827 students comprising 473 males and 354 females. Eight secondary schools were sampled using simple random sampling techniques. A proforma was the instrument which enable the researchers to copy results from the school past records in the respective schools through the help of the school principals was used to collect data for the study. Means and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions and t-test statistics were used to analyze the hypotheses. The findings showed that male students achieved significantly better than the female students in both urban and rural schools. Also there was no significant difference in the academic achievement of student in urban and rural schools. It was recommended among others that adequate incentives from federal Government, parents and stake holders of education should be provided to female students to encourage them to achieve better. Keywords: Gender, Location, Achievement, Chemistry, Science and technology, Sex, West African Senior Secondary School Certification Examination

Relationship between climatic variability and water footprint of sugarcane at Dangote Sugar company Numan, Nigeria

This study investigated the relationship between climatic  variability and water footprint of sugarcane at Dangote SugarCompany (formerly Savannah Sugar Company) Numan, Nigeria. The objective of the study was to assess the level of the effect of climatic elements- rainfall, temperature, relative humidity,  sunshine and wind speed, on sugarcane production. Three sets of data were required for the study, including climatic, soil and crop parameters. Soil and crop data were unavailable. However, CROPWAT model package of Food and Agricultural Organization contains these data for all ecological zones, study area inclusive. Thirty three years’ climatic data of the area were inputted into themodel and in conjunction with the built-in soil and crop data used to model the relationship between climatic variability and water footprint of sugarcane. Furthermore, correlation and path analyses were later used to investigate the relationship between those  elements using SPSS 22 and SPSS AMOS 21 statistical packages. Results reveal that there is an evidence of climate variability in the area. Blue water footprint (WFblue) value calculated as  172/m2/ton was found to be higher than Green water footprint (WFgreen) of 102m2/ton as well as global average of 57m2/ton, whereas the WFgreen (102m2/ton) was lower than the global average (139m2/ton). This is an indication that sugarcane production is most dependent on WFblue (irrigation). Generally, rainfall, temperature and relative humidity were found to be positively correlated with water footprint whereas sunshine and wind speed were negatively correlated. Overall, climatic factors contribute about 17%, with rainfall being most influential, to water footprint of sugarcane in the area. Despite little contribution of climatic factors to water footprint of sugarcane in the area, it is recommended that the company should institute a comprehensive water consumption scheme for the two water sources (rainfall and dam) to deal with the opposing impacts of climate variability, no matter how meager it may be.Keywords: Sugarcane, Climate variability, CROPWAT, Water footprint, Dangote

Evaluation of the repellent and insecticidal activities of the leaf, stem and root powders of siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) against the Cowpea Beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus

This study investigated the repellency and toxicological activity of C. odorata root, stem and leaf powders against adults of the cowpea beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Adults of C. maculatus were exposed to grains treated separately with the root, stem and leaf powders of C. odorata at different exposure periods of 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours. All the three plant parts significantly repelled C. maculatus with the root powder showing the highest percentage repellency, although this was a function of exposure time. The order of repellency after 48 hours exposure was 88, 83 and 76% for the root, leaf and stem powders, respectively. Powders from the three plant parts exhibited insecticidal activity by causing varying levels of mortality to C. maculatus with mortality increasing with increase in exposure time. The root powder accounted for the highest adult mortality (74%) while the leaf powder accounted for the least mortality (51%) after 48 hours exposure time. The high repellent and insecticidal activities demonstrated by the root powder compared to the leaf and stem powders suggest that the root powder should be prioritized for the control and management of C. maculatus.Keywords: Chromolaena odorata, plant powder, toxicity, mortality, repellency, Callosobruchus maculatu

Social Control in Precolonial Igboland of Nigeria

This study is a descriptive investigation of the traditional system of social control and order maintenance in the Igbo nation of Nigeria in Africa. It discusses how the Igbo employed customary standards of conduct and negative sanctions for breach of norms to control its people prior to the advent of the Europeans, colonization, and prisons. Employing ethnographic methodology, the paper describes what constitutes serious deviance and the stringent penalties imposed for their contravention in pre-colonial Igboland. Specifically, the Igbo employed the services of council of elders, age-grade associations, title-making associations, oracles, “Dibia” fraternities (medicine men), secret societies, the myth of reincarnation and non-transmigration, and the invocation of spirits of the ancestors (“mmanwu” and ancestral worship) to preserve collective conscience. Finally, the paper suggests a re-evaluation by current government in Igbo nation to determine a possibility of co-opting certain elements of pre-colonial systems into the 21st century social control in Igbo states

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THREE DIFFERENT PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS TECHNIQUES IN RABBITS

Seven pluriparous non-gravid does and two matured bucks were utilized for the study. Does were all mated after 30 days of stabilization. Successful mating was confirmed by a recoil, backward or sideway fall and emission of a snorting sound by the male. Pregnancy detection was by weight gain, abdominal palpation and ultrasonography techniques at days 6, 9,13,18,23. Abdominal palpation of does was carried out by gentle palpation of nodule-like tissues in the ventral abdomen. Transcutaneous ultrasonography was performed using ultrasound machine Kaixin KX2000®. Weight gain was monitored using a sensitive weighing scale. Early pregnancy was diagnosed by ultrasonography and abdominal palpation on days 6.00±0.00 and 7.5±1.29 post-copulation respectively. Pregnancy was diagnosed by abdominal palpation in 28.57% of the does on day 6 and increased to 100% on day 9 post-copulation; however diagnosis by ultrasonography was 100% on day 6. The average weight gain was 0.029±0.029kg by day 6; 0.057±0.4 by day 13, which plateaued till parturition. Ultrasonography could therefore be used effectively for pregnancy diagnosis as early as day 6 of gestation in rabbit does while abdominal palpation could serve in absence of ultrasonography by day 9 of gestation. Weight gain is a positive adjunct to other pregnancy diagnostic techniques.     &nbsp