Saving and borrowing in rural Uganda

Sub-Saharan Africa has languished in recent decades - a period in which countries elsewhere in the world (especially in East and Southeast Asia) have made substantial progress in terms of economic and human development. It is widely recognised that high levels of savings, together with investment in physical and human capital, have been among a number of key factors that have led to such success. Uganda is an economy in sub-Saharan Africa that has shown some promise of success in the 1990s. It has enjoyed macroeconomic stability and a rapid rate of economic growth. However, in some other respects, the country retains features that give cause for concern for future development. Poverty in the rural areas remains widespread, and the domestic savings rate is amongst the lowest in the world. Drawing on the results of a survey carried out in 1997, this paper explores the reasons underlying the persistence of poverty in rural Uganda, and investigates aspects of saving and borrowing behaviour in households. The potential role of microcredit arrangements in alleviating poverty (and in generating a flow of savings) is examined, and the conditions that may favour success in the operation of microcredit schemes are evaluated

Saving and borrowing in rural Uganda

Sub-Saharan Africa has languished in recent decades - a period in which countries elsewhere in the world (especially in East and Southeast Asia) have made substantial progress in terms of economic and human development. It is widely recognised that high levels of savings, together with investment in physical and human capital, have been among a number of key factors that have led to such success. Uganda is an economy in sub-Saharan Africa that has shown some promise of success in the 1990s. It has enjoyed macroeconomic stability and a rapid rate of economic growth. However, in some other respects, the country retains features that give cause for concern for future development. Poverty in the rural areas remains widespread, and the domestic savings rate is amongst the lowest in the world. Drawing on the results of a survey carried out in 1997, this paper explores the reasons underlying the persistence of poverty in rural Uganda, and investigates aspects of saving and borrowing behaviour in households. The potential role of microcredit arrangements in alleviating poverty (and in generating a flow of savings) is examined, and the conditions that may favour success in the operation of microcredit schemes are evaluated. Keywords; Uganda, sub-Saharan Africa, poverty, structural adjustment, savings, financial markets JEL classification: O16

Environmental Accounting and Financial Performance of Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

Environmental accounting serves as a systematic approach in managing the environmental aspects of company activities. The shift in business economics towards environmental issues has led to the realization of the increasing importance of research in environmental accounting. This study employs the use of questionnaires in order to receive direct (primary) information from companies that produces environmentally friendly products. The findings in this study suggests among other things, that lack of environmental reporting and disclosure standards significantly affects the reporting and disclosure uniformity of environmental related information in financial statements, annual reports and accounts. Thus, environmentally friendly organizations who voluntary disclose their environmental activities enjoy high level of competiveness. Still, such disclosure is guided by the social responsibility and commitment on the part of entities that work as strong agents for polluting the environment. Conclusively, issues related to financial performance, managerial accounting, external and internal auditing, tax and financial accounting need to be studied further in order to deal with other environmental issues effectively. This study thereby gave some recommendations among others is the recommendation that government should make environmental reporting in annual reports compulsory since most organizations hardly report their environmental activities in their reports. Keywords: Environment Accounting, Disclosure, Financial Performance, Oil and Gas. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-10-21 Publication date:May 31st 201

Evaluation of Mixture Productivity and Economic Profit of Inter Cropped Garden Egg and Okra as Influenced by Application of Moringa oleifera Extracts, Poultry Manure and N.P.K Fertilizer in Cropping Systems of Farmers in North Central Nigeria.

The plant height of Okra was significantly (p> 0.05) greater   under intercropping than in sole cropping.  The highest plant height, number of leaves and leaf area per plant were obtained from stands of Okra that were treated with aqueous foliar spray of Moringa extracts though not significantly (p>0.05) different from those that received poultry manure and N.P.K fertilizer. The growth parameters of garden egg were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by intercropping in both 2012 and 2013 respectively. Stands of Okra applied with Moringa oleifera extracts under sole cropping system produced 76% and 70% more pods than the stands in the control plots in 2012 and 2013 while those under intercropping produced 76% and 74% than those in the control plots in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Also in 2012 and 2013, the pod yield of okra treated with Moringa extracts was 90% and 86% greater than those in the control plots under sole cropping situations while under inter cropping it was 90% greater than the control. Intercropping depressed number of pod per plant in 2012 by 4% and 2013 by 2% while pod yield was depressed in 2012 and 2013 only by 6% respectively. Like in Okra, the fruit production of garden egg was significantly (p>0.05) influenced by Moringa oleifera extracts. The highest fruit yield was recorded from stands treated with Poultry manure although not significantly different from those given N.P.K. fertilizer and aqueous Moringa leaf extracts. The Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) values of the okra/garden egg intercrops except those of the control plots were greater than unity in both years of cropping. On the average, the LER of the intercrops that were applied with Moringa eatracts in 2012 and 2013 were 1.44 and 1.46, indicating 44% and 46% yield advantage over the sole crops. There is economic prospect in the use Moringa extracts in the production of okra and garden egg under both cropping systems.   Keywords: Okra, Garden egg, Moringa oleifera, NPK fertilizer, cropping systems, Land Equivalent Rati

The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children on child participation: Perceptions, impacts and dilemmas

The adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has seen a quantum leap in the recognition- and expansion of initiatives to uphold children’s participation rights. The Ombudsman for Children plays an important role in promoting children’s rights, thus stressing the importance of authorities taking children’s opinions and experiences into consideration when making decisions which affect them. This article examines how the staff at the Ombudsman for Children in Norway understand and experience child participation through expert meetings and expert groups, in which children are regarded as the experts. The findings suggest that the existence of a consultative approach, where children’s views influence decisions, depends on the effectiveness of the Ombudsman’s representative function. While there is evidence of the recent growth of platforms for children to express their views, the core elements of participation largely remain monopolized by adults. We argue that active participation should be deliberately promoted beyond adult-led realms, and extended to ordinary contexts in which children interact with the society.publishedVersio

Factors Influencing Agents Retention In Insurance Industry: A Survey Of Selected Insurance Companies In Nairobi (Kenya).

Life insurance industry has been suffering for a long time now from high rate of turnover of the agents. Therefore this study was intended to establish the factors that are influencing agents’ retention within the major insurance companies in Nairobi. The study focused on the selected assurance companies in Nairobi on the bases of the volume of business reported in the three selected companies as opposed to the small volume of business which is reported weekly by the up country agencies of the same companies. The study focused on the three major life assurance companies in Kenya following the AKI 2011 insurance companies positioning. The study concentrated on British America Investment Company founded in 1920, Pan Africa life assurance founded in 1945 and CFC life founded in 1964 as ALICO (American Life Insurance Company).   The Main objective of this study was to establish the factors influencing agents’ retention in the insurance industry with great emphases on Life insurance. The study was guided by six specific objectives, namely the social demographics influence, influence of product knowledge, the influence of working conditions, influence of resourcing strategies, influence remuneration mode and the influence of training and development. The study used a descriptive survey design. The study employed descriptive analysis technique on both primary and secondary data. To collect primary data, a set of questionnaires were administered to the agents from the selected major insurance companies in Nairobi. The target population of study was the agents working in the agencies of BRITAK, Pan Africa Life and CFC Life Assurance Company in Nairobi. The sample population for the study consisted of 129 respondents selected from the target population of 1000 possible respondents using stratified random sampling. The data was collected using the drop and pick method. The respondents filled the questionnaires at their convenient time. The study employed descriptive analysis technique on both primary and secondary data.   From the findings, the study established that, use of commissions as a mode of remunerating agents, working conditions does not influence retention of agents negatively however training and development, social demographic, product knowledge and resourcing strategies were found out to be key factors influencing the retention of agents negatively. The study therefore recommends that for the insurance industries use more resources in training and developing their agents and also improve on the resourcing strategies