Nutritional Potential of Myrianthus holstii Fruit of Rwanda

Myrianthus holstii fruit has been a neglected edible fruit with limited nutritional information. This study evaluated the physical and chemical characteristics of M. holstii fruit of Rwanda. The physical parameters including fruit weight, fruit size, pulp content, seed weight and seed size are reported. The fruit pulp that is acidic pH (3.38±0.04) contained; protein (8.03±0.95 g/100g), dietary fibre (25.64±0.06 g/100g), vitamin C (19.80±2.13 mg/100g), beta carotene (0.99 mg/100g), iron (16.262±0.576 mg/100g), zinc (2.327±0.034 mg/100g) and copper (0.573±0.011 mg/100g). Assessment of these nutrient contribution to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) showed 100g of pulp can meet 42%, 103%, 79%, 233%, 163%, 49% and 143% for children (4-8-year-old); and 18%, 103%, 22%, 133%, 90%, 29%, and 63% for adults (19-50years) respectively. The seeds had an oil yield of 37.67±1.53% with omega 6 fatty acid (78.92) being the most dominant. The total unsaturation in the oil was 90.91% with 78.92% poly unsaturated fatty acids. Based on the nutritional information, M. holstii can be a good source of beta carotene (vitamin A), iron, zinc and omega 6 fats that are essential in nutrition and health. Therefore, the fruit should be promoted for consumption as a snack and also processed into food products like fruit juice, wine, jelly, jam and vegetable oil to enhance the nutrition, health and income of households. Keywords: Myrianthus holstii, fruit, nutritional composition, bioactive, proximate, chemical, physical, Rwand

Molecular characterization of serotype O foot-andmouth disease virus from pigs: Implications for multispecies approach to disease control in Uganda

In Uganda, where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) control is mainly done through vaccination, constant monitoring of outbreaks and phylogenetic studies are important in designing effective disease control strategies. These efforts however, have mainly concentrated on cattle since they are the main visible disease hosts. In this study, the molecular characteristics of the VP1 coding sequences of the pigderived FMD virus and its phylogenetic relationship with other historical Ugandan FMD virus sequences are determined. Sixty seven samples were collected from three districts of south western Uganda and subjected to RT-PCR. Partial VP1 capsid protein coding sequences of 12 positive samples were amplified and sequenced using serotype specific primers. Eight sequences were successfully obtained, all of which were from domestic pigs. All samples were confirmed as belonging to serotype O using BLAST search. Phylogenetic analysis of the test sequences with selected sequences, showed a close relatedness (average of 3.77% pair-wise distance) to viruses isolated from central and western Uganda in the years 2005 and 2006 from cattle. These results show that domestic pigs in the western region of Uganda have been infected with the same circulating strain of FMDV and play a potentially important role in FMD maintenance and spread.Keywords: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), pig-derived FMDV sequence, persistence, domestic pigsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2547-255

Influence of university entrepreneurship training on farmers’ competences for improved productivity and market access in Uganda

Entrepreneurial and organizational competences among farmers are critical in improving farmers’ productivity and market access for sustainable agricultural development through enhanced household food and income security. Universities are among the institutions with the responsibility to build up these competences. Universities are criticized though for focusing on academic and research roles with minimal impact on communities. Makerere University, Kampala, in response piloted a farmer entrepreneurship training project in a bid to effectively contribute to social transformation. The study assessed the influence of the training on smallholder farmers’ competences, productivity and organizational capacity. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions with 184 farmers in the project and non-project farmers in northern Uganda. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS computer package and thematic content analysis, respectively. A multiple regression analysis using the ordinary least square was used to capture the combined influence of entrepreneurship training and other socioeconomic variables on the farmers’ productivity. Our study findings show that the training had positively influenced farmers’ entrepreneurial and organizational competences. Farmers acquired improved agronomic practices, business planning, value addition and packaging, branding and marketing knowledge and skills. Group leadership, accountability, communication, networking and marketing competencies of the farmers were strengthened. The project demonstrated a possible framework for developing country university efforts to impact on sustainable agricultural development. Integrating entrepreneurship aspects of technical and scientific knowledge, entrepreneurship, social and environmental awareness, experiential education and values and ethics into the curricula would provide universities with capacity to promote rural entrepreneurship

The benefits and challenges of using ICTs to strengthen university-farming community engagement in Uganda

Agricultural Universities like many other organizations have used conventional communication channels in sharing information with farmers and other stakeholders. There are however increased limitations of ensuring real-time and sustainable exchange of relevant information and knowledge between researchers, extension workers, farmers and other stakeholders. Integration of information communication technologies (ICTs) in communication has been found to facilitate timely, efficient and cost effective information sharing in agriculture. Makerere University piloted the development of an information and communication technology (ICT) mechanism to enable farmers’ to access information from a University information centre. This study aimed at understanding the factors influencing the application of the ICT-based information exchange model for strengthening university-farming community engagement in a pilot project between Makerere University and farming communities in northern Uganda. Qualitative data were collected from 30 project farmers, project managers and the system designers at the university through key informant interviews. The study findings suggest that successful integration of ICTs in the information pathways is important in enhancing timely information sharing between universities, farmers and other stakeholders. Universities have a unique advantage of having a broad array of expertise and students to run an agricultural ICT platform. Partnering with relevant agricultural organizations from whom to access and integrate relevant information would improve the quality of content shared with farmers. Exploring ways of establishing an equipped agricultural ICT laboratory/center at the university, and strengthening partnerships with other stakeholders is very crucial if efforts of applying ICTs to strengthen engagement with farmers and other stakeholders are not to stop at experimentation

Unknotting typologies in smallholder farmers investing in seed potato production in South-Western Uganda

ABSTRACTSmallholder farmer participation in seed production ensures seed security among farming communities. Interventions that promote farmer investment in seed production, however, enroll any willing farmer, yet smallholder farmers can be heterogeneously composed of receptive and new intervention-shy individuals. This study sought to identify homogenous typologies of seed potato producers investing in seed potato production in South-Western Uganda. Data collected from 213 farmers and 16 focus group discussions were analyzed using principal component and cluster analysis methods to construct farming typologies. Psychological capital and investment level were major variables in typology distilation. The results revealed 4 seed potato producer typologies including, typology 1 of ‘middle-aged female seed multipliers of moderate psychological capital and low investment level', typology 2 of ‘old-aged seed recyclers of high psychological capital but with the lowest investment level', typology 3 of for ‘young male seed recyclers of moderate psychological capital but with high investment level' and typology 4 of ‘young male seed multipliers of high psychological capital and the highest investment level’. Investing in seed potato production across the typologies was constrained by identical factors, including land shortage, limited access to markets, credit facilities and seed storage facilities. Seed interventionists are recommended to focus on typology 4, 3 and 1 producers. Future typology studies should include psychological factors to introduce practical variability nested in individual interpretations of seemly constant contexts

Challenges of youth involvement in sustainable food systems: Lessons learned from the case of farmers' value network embeddedness in ugandan multi-stakeholder platforms

This chapter aims at investigating which are the persisting challenges faced by youth when playing a role in shaping a more sustainable food system. To do so, it presents evidence from a case study set in Ugandan coffee multi-statakeholder platforms (MSPs), which offers a local, contextualized perspective to this global issue. Building upon the notion of value networks, we analyse how younger farmers’ embeddedness in value networks relates to their potential to innovate towards more sustainable food systems. Empirical findings first highlight that younger farmers have significantly lower dimensions of value network embeddedness relative to older ones. Second, related to the limited value network embeddedness in a vicious circle, they own smaller farms in more remote areas from the markets and there engage less in collective action than older farmers. Third, their limited value network embeddedness directly constraints their innovation potential. These findings suggest that, in the context of MSPs, specific measures for youth inclusion and inclusiveness are necessary to embed younger farmers in value network and more effectively address their innovation constraints. In interplay with other empirical evidence from the literature, this case from Uganda highlights youth’s untapped potential in achieving many SDGs, including SDG 17, which targets the development of global partnerships for sustainable development, and SDG 11, which aims at the sustainability of human settlements

New organizational forms in emerging economies: Bridging the gap between agribusiness management and international development

Purpose This editorial article introduces and analyzes a variety of new organizational forms that rapidly emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in the latest two decades. Among the others, these include: business model partnerships, business platforms, incubators and hubs, public–private partnerships, agribusiness companies' foundations and spin-offs, short supply chains, community-supported agriculture and other community self-organizing experiences. Building upon the recent literature and the five selected papers in this special issue, the authors discuss what is novel in these organizations and why, when and how they emerge and evolve over time. Design/methodology/approach The authors identify three elements that, when considered together, explain and predict the emergence and evolution of these new organizational forms: institutions, strategies and learning processes. Findings The authors demonstrate that societal actors seeking to (re)design these new organizational forms need to consider these three elements to combine the pursuit of their interests of their own constituencies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Originality/value Taking stock from the literature, the authors invite future research on new organizational forms to take explicitly the pursuit of the SDGs into consideration; to build upon a process ontology; and to deeply reflect on our positionality of scientists studying and sometimes engaging in these organizations