Evaluating the impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit in Uganda:

"The theorized impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit has produced mixed results in the empirical literature. Land tenure and titling is hypothesized to increase access to credit because of the enhanced land security provided and the newfound ability to use land as collateral. Using land as collateral and obtaining access to credit are paramount concerns in Uganda and in all of Africa, as greater emphasis is placed on the need to modernize the agricultural system. This paper uses a new approach in evaluating whether land tenure and titling have an impact on access to credit for rural households in Uganda. The new approach includes comparisons across four categories: (1) households who have customary land with versus without a customary certificate, (2) households who have freehold land with versus without a title, (3) households with a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure, and (4) households without a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure. Each comparison is then evaluated for the impact on access to any form of credit, formal credit, and informal credit. This analysis allows for an in-depth look into which element, tenure or title, is impacting access to credit and to which type of credit, formal or informal. To conduct this analysis, matching techniques are used, including propensity score matching and the Abadie and Imbens matching method. These two methods contain both strengths and weaknesses that allow the results to support to one another. The only significant finding of the matching was a positive impact on access to credit of freehold without title over customary without certificate. Results imply that tenure, not title, impacts credit access for rural households in Uganda." from authors' abstractLand tenure, Land titling, Rural credit, Land management,

Strategies for sustainable agricultural development in the East African highlands:

Low agricultural productivity, land degradation and poverty are severe interrelated problems in the East African highlands. While the proximate causes of such problems are relatively well known, the underlying causes are many and complex, and depend upon many site-specific factors that vary greatly across the diverse circumstances of the region. In this paper, we argue that the appropriate strategy for sustainable development depends greatly upon the “pathways of development” that are feasible in a given location. We argue that such development pathways will be largely determined by three factors determining comparative advantage: agricultural potential, access to markets, and population density. We conclude the paper with hypotheses about the priorities for policy intervention to achieve sustainable development in the East African highlands. Among these, we suggest that the highest priority for road and irrigation development should be areas close to urban markets with high agricultural potential; that development of input and output markets and credit systems will be most critical in such areas; that increasing food security through increased food crop production or other means is likely to be a key to realizing the potential for more commercial production; that subsidies on the costs of transporting fertilizer to remote, high-potential, food deficit areas should be considered as a lower cost alternative to food aid; and that intensified and more private use of hillsides and grazing areas for sustainable uses such as tree planting may have potential to achieve more rapid and sustainable development of lower potential areas.Land degradation, Sustainable agriculture, Population density,

Investigation of the potential for catalysed thermal recycling in glass fibre reinforced polymer composites by using metal oxides

An investigation into catalysed thermal recycling of glass fibre (GF) reinforced epoxy was carried out to improve its commercial viability. Strength degradation was established as a key barrier in retaining the value of fibres after recycling. Several metal oxides were examined to assess their ability at reducing the high operating temperatures currently limiting the reusability of recovered fibres. It is proposed that such a material could be integrated within a thermal recycling system facilitating an increase in fibre residual strength while reducing energy consumption of the process. It was found that CuO, CeO2 and Co3O4 were able to significantly accelerate the thermal degradation of epoxy. When applied to GF-epoxy, both the temperature and time required for fibre liberation were significantly lowered, reducing energy consumption by approximately 40%. The strength of fibres recovered with the aid of the metal oxides was increased, with the full potential for the strength retention yet to be achieved

Spectral infrared hemispherical reflectance measurements for LDEF tray clamps

Infrared hemispherical reflectance measurements that were made on 58 chromic acid anodized tray clamps from LDEF are described. The measurements were made using a hemiellipsoidal mirror reflectometer with interferometer for wavelengths between 2-15 microns. The tray clamps investigated were from locations about the entire spacecraft and provided the opportunity for comparing the effects of atomic oxygen at each location. Results indicate there was essentially no dependence on atomic oxygen fluence for the surfaces studied, but there did appear to be a slight dependence on solar radiation exposure. The reflectances of the front sides of the tray clamps consistently were slightly higher than for the protected rear tray clamp surfaces

THE DETERMINANTS OF CEREAL CROP DIVERSITY ON FARMS IN THE ETHIOPIAN HIGHLANDS

On farm conservation of crop diversity entails policy challenges, especially when the diversity of crops maintained on farms has both inter-specific (among crops) and infra-specific (within a crop) components. Survey data is used to compare the determinants of inter- and infra-specific diversity on household farms in the highlands of northern Ethiopia. Physical features of the farm, and household characteristics such as livestock assets and the proportion of adults that are men, have large and significant effects on both the diversity among and within cereal crops grown, varying among crops. Demographic aspects such as age of household head and adult education levels affect only infra-specific diversity of cereals. Though there are no apparent trade-offs between policies that would enhance one type of diversity (richness) versus another (evenness), those designed to encourage infra-specific diversity in one cereal crop might have the opposite effect on another crop. Trade-offs between development and diversity in this resource-poor system are not evident. Market-related variables and population density have ambiguous effects. Education positively influences cereal crop diversity. Growing modern varieties of maize or wheat does not detract from the richness or evenness of these cereals on household farms.Crop Production/Industries,

Policies for sustainable land management in the East African highlands

This document presents the proceedings of the international conference held at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 24-26, 2002. The theme of the conference was Policies for Sustainable Land Management in the East African Highlands, which was convened to bring together researchers, policy makers, development practitioners, donors and others to review, discuss and synthesize the findings and policy implications of policy research related to sustainable land management in the East African highlands. The conference also aimed at increasing awareness of policy makers and other stakeholders of the impacts of policies, programs and other factors on land management, agricultural productivity, poverty and food security; to discuss promising strategies to promote more sustainable land management, increased agricultural productivity, and reduced poverty and food insecurity; and to consider priorities for policy action and future research

Policies for livestock development in the Ethiopian highlands

Since 1991, there have been significant changes in utilisation of feed resources in the Ethiopian highlands: while use of communal grazing lands and private pastures has declined, use of crop residues and purchased feed has increased. In addition, although use of animal health services, and adoption of improved livestock breeds and modern management practices have increased, ownership of various types of livestock has declined. Rapid population growth has contributed most to the declining trends in grazing resources and ownership of livestock, showing the negative effects of increasing pressure on already degraded resources in the Ethiopian highlands. Conversely, access to own land, increased participation in credit and extension programmes targeting livestock, and improvement in access to markets have had significant positive impacts on adoption of improved livestock technologies and ownership of livestock. Thus, reducing population growth, and improving access to markets and credit and extension programmes targeting livestock can enhance the role of livestock in improving food security and reducing poverty, especially in the mixed crop-livestock farming systems as exist in the East African highlands