A Review of the Trends and Causes of Food Insecurity in Ethiopia

The issue of ensuring food security has become the agenda of concern across all over the globe especially for low income countries with high population growth rate. So far, a number of efforts have been made by governmental and non-governmental organization to reduce food-insecurity problems in Ethiopia and moreover, a number of food security/insecurity targeted studies have been conducted under different geographical locations of Ethiopia. However, these studies do not provide overall picture of food security or insecurity status at national level over a period of time as they entirely focused on household level food security/insecurity aspects. Therefore, the main aim of this paper was to provide national level data on the status, dynamics and causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia based on official reports and empirical evidences. Results from review shows that, even if food insecurity in the country has shown declining trend, still the percentage of food insecure people (32.7%) is significant. The total food gap in the country is higher than that of other African countries. There are various sources and causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia. They include drought risk, environmental degradation, demographic pressure, rural-urban migration, and conflict. Moreover, household characteristics, limited asset ownership and access to institutional services, low participation in extension and other programs, and poor agricultural technology adoption are the other causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia. Benchmarking the compiled facts, it is possible to conclude that there still remains a number of efforts that should be made to improve food security status of food insecure people and enable them to have a better life through critically influencing four dimensions of food security both at micro and macro level. Keywords: Status, Causes, Food Insecurity DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/99-02 Publication date:July 31st 202

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Air Pollution: In Case of Ethiopia

The policy of trade liberalization and increased openness is seen as a means of stimulating economic growth for developing countries. However, there is argument from environmentalists side that trade has adverse environmental effects. Given the potential benefits of trade liberalization policies, it is important to examine whether such policies are in fact in conflict with the environment as they accelerate economic growth.This paper with aim of studying the impact of trade liberalization on environment has made use of a time series data from 1970 to 2010. The impact of trade on environment was analysed by decomposing into scale, composition, and technique effect. The Johansen co-integration and error-correction model technique has been used in order to examine the long run and the short run dynamics of the system respectively. The result indicate that scale effect, Economic growth and Population density are positively related to air pollution while it is negatively related with trade intensity and composition effect. In short run, scale effect and population density have negative environmental effects while trade intensity and composition effect are environmental friendly similar to long run results. Thus, there is a need to diversify on areas where the country has comparative advantage in international trade to maximize the gains from trade and Ethiopia has to critically examine and identify her trading opportunities so as to ensure that decisions which endanger areas where Ethiopia exhibits comparative advantage should not compromised Keywords: Trade liberalization, Trade intensity, Scale effect, Composition effect, Technique effect, Ethiopia

Review on Factors Affecting the Participation of Smallholder Farmers in Improved Chicken Rearing in Ethiopia

The main aim of this seminar paper is to review factors affecting the participation of smallholder farmers in improved chicken rearing in Ethiopia. Improved chicken rearing plays an important role by increasing smallholder farmers’ household food security and income generation as well as increasing gender equity, amongst the rural poor. To increase the chicken contribution to income and dietary diversity of the household; a ministry of agriculture and rural development of the country have been multiplied and disseminated several improved chicken breeds to the smallholder farmers over the last fifty years in different parts of regions of Ethiopia. Improved chickens such as Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn, Bovine brown, and Issa brown, were imported and disseminated to smallholder farmers to increase egg and meat production, income generation, job creation for the smallholder farmers, and genetically to improve the native chicken breeds through on-farm research and public extension programs in Ethiopia. Even if an improved chicken were disseminated to smallholder farmers in the country, smallholder farmers’ discussion to participate in improved chicken rearing system was limited to traditional rearing system and different factors as well as different challenges. Those challenges and factors are lack of extension follow-up, lack of complementary inputs, diseases, unavailability of credit services, market problem, agro-ecological problem, and less gender participation. Based on this seminar paper of review, it was concluded that extension agencies and other concerned departments should manipulate these crucial factors to bring about inclusive and desirable changes in the participation of smallholder farmers in improved chicken rearing that; can towards improved poultry technologies in Ethiopia. Keywords: Ethiopia, Improved chicken rearing, Participation, Smallholder farmers DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-2-02 Publication date: January 31st 2021

Herbal Medicine Use during Pregnancy: Benefits and Untoward Effects

The use of herbal medicine has been on an increase over time. The most commonly used herbs are ginger, cranberry, valerian, raspberry leaf, chamomile, peppermint, thyme, fenugreek, green tea, sage, anise, garlic and bitter kola. The use of herbal medicine during pregnancy is associated with educational status of women, income level of household and age of women. Herbal medicines were used during pregnancy to treat nausea and vomiting, reduce the risk of preeclampsia, shorten labour and treat common cold and urinary tract infection. Using herbal medicine occasionally causes trouble. Heartburn, pre-mature labour, miscarriage, increase in blood flow, abortion and allergic reactions are the common troubles of herbal medicine use during pregnancy. Using herbal medicine during the first trimester and the third trimester is unsafe for the foetus. Pregnant women should talk to health professionals before consuming any herbal medicines. The unfortunate consequences of using herbal medicine during pregnancy need further study for various herbs. Therefore, clinical trial research should be done to identify unfortunate consequences of herbal medicine use during pregnancy

Identification of Honey Bee Floras and Their Flowering Times in Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia

The present study focused on identification of honey bee floras and their flowering times in Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia. Purposive sampling technique and combination of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) tools were employed to identify the major and minor honey bee floras, and their flowering times. The data were collected from 36 sampled bee keepers in four peasant associations. Descriptive statistics and other statistical parameters were used in organizing, summarizing and describing the data. The average number of traditional, transitional and moveable frame beehives was 10.51±3.80, 2.88±1.85, and 1.12±1.21, respectively. The average honey yield per harvest/colony was 5.1±0.72, 13.20 ±0.92 and 17.2±0.73 kg for traditional, transitional and moveable frame hives, respectively. Hence, there was a highly significant difference (p<0.05) in terms of yield per hive/harvest between the three types of hives. A total of 47 bee flora species belonging to 42 genera and 30 families were identified by the sample respondents. The plant species were comprised of trees (48.94%), shrubs (27.66%), fruit trees (10.64%), herbs (6.38%) and food crops (6.39%). Of the total number of bee flora plants identified in the study area, 17 (36.17%) were major honey bee flora where as 30 (63.83%) were the minor ones. The major parameters that the beekeepers used in identification of bee floras were flowers visited by honey bees. The beekeepers expressed that the frequency and number of bees visiting the flowers can help them to identify as the major and minor honey bee floras. The identified plant species bear flowers mainly from September to November and in March. The current investigation revealed that there are various plant species in the study area with different flowering times, and this will provide basic information for further researches focused on bee flora and their conservation strategies. Keywords: bee flora, flowering time, honey bee, species DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/59-01 Publication date:September 30th 201

Effects of Leadership Styles on Ethiopian Banking Industry Performance

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of leadership styles on organizational performance with specific reference to Commercial banks operate in Jimma Town. To achieve the objectives the study causal type of research and panel design was used to examine the amount of effect that leadership style could exert on the bank’s performance. The primary data sources were leaders on different levels and their subordinate employees while, the secondary data sources were annual report of individual banks and from audit financial report of National Bank of Ethiopia.  Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was adapted for collection of leadership styles representing questions. The descriptive and inferential analyses was conducted to analyze the collected data. Subsequently, the researcher employed Random Effect Model to investigate the extent of relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. The study results revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership have strong positive effect on the ROA. Thus, transformational that brings changes in working environment by inspiring and motivating employees for changes, creation, innovation, to go beyond from what they actually think they can; and transactional that reward employees and make recognition in exchange for the work they perform, giving close directions and guidance have positive and significant effect in promoting the performance of the bank. Based on the study results the provided recommendation was that the leaders of banks should focus on playing a role model  by taking first step of what they talk about and keep consistent in their action in way that getting trust and loyalty from employees and in instilling confidence, commitment and vision in employees and the Stakeholders in the industry should consider taking banking in a non-traditional direction by placing more emphasis on understanding leadership style and its effects on improving results. Keywords: Effect; Leadership Style; Performance; Banks; Jimma; Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-16-02 Publication date:June 30th 202

Haemonchosis in Small Ruminant and the Associated Risk Factors in and around Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was conducted in Gondar town, Amhara regional state of Ethiopia from November 2016 to May 2017 with an attempt to estimate the prevalence and associated risk factors of haemonchosis in sheep and goats slaughtered at randomly selected restaurants and hotels. A total of 250 animals were examined (216 sheep and 34 goats) and the overall prevalence was 73.6%. Specific prevalence in Haemonchus contortus infection in sheep was (65.6%) and it was (8%) in goats; and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Prevalence of Haemonchosis in male and female animals was (57.6%) and (16%) respectively and the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Prevalence of the disease in medium body conditioned animals was found to be higher (46%) when compared to good body condition animals (27.6%) and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). There was also statistically significant difference in Haemonchosis prevalence between age groups in that adults of greater or equal to one year age have higher prevalence (52.8%) than young animals (20.8%). Overall, the present study revealed haemonchosis as a very important parasitic disease of small ruminants that warrant urgent control measure to tackle the disease incidence before the onset of adverse economic impacts. Keywords: Haemonchosi, Prevalence, Risk factors, Small ruminant

Isolation and Characterization of Flavonoid and Other Compounds from Seeds Extract of Calpurnia Aurea

The study was undertaken to isolate and characterize flavonoid and other compounds from seeds extract of Calpurnia aurea. Three compounds were isolated from this medicinal plant, it were identified as flavonoid compound G1 named: 2-(4-(2-hydroxyethyl)phenyl)-4H-chromen-4-one, compound P2 named: 1-(2-(3-((E)-buta-1,3-dienyl) cyclopentyl)ethyl)benzene and compound C3 named: (E)-methyl 14-hydroxy-10-methyltetradec-2-enoate. Its structures determinations were based on 1H, 13C NMR spectral measurements. In this study, proton and carbon signals were assigned by means of 2D NMR spectral methods for compound P2. Keywords: 2D NMR; Calpurnia aurea; Phytochemical; Structure DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-7-01 Publication date: April 30th 201

The Impact of Climate Change on Pastoralist Livelihoods in Ethiopia: A Review

Pastoralism contributed a lot to the economy of the Africa. In Ethiopia, about 10 million pastoralists rely on animal husbandry as a key source of wealth and subsistence. The livestock sub-sector accounts for 20% of Ethiopia’s GDP, with the national herd inhabiting Ethiopia’s vast lowland periphery. So as to support pastoralists in Ethiopia, governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and amongst other actors, have intervened in various ways. Notwithstanding those remarkable efforts, pastoralist in different parts of Ethiopia operates over increasingly degraded rangeland due to increasing bush encroachment, population growth, agricultural encroachment, land degradation, blocked migration routes and conflict triggered over scarce natural resources. Having this fact, this review was initiated with the aim of exploring pastoral livelihood system in Ethiopia and impacts of climate change on pastoral livelihoods. Reviewed empirical evidence shows that, pastoralist in Ethiopia have engaged on various economic activities which include livestock rearing, crop farming, petty trade, hand craft activities, wood and charcoal sale and casual labor. Moreover, changes in climatic factors directly affected natural resources,  livestock yields , caused animal and human disease epidemics, and loss of animals in pastoral areas. Therefore, attention should be given on strengthening pastoralist livelihood diversification through providing training on entrepreneurship, how to pool capital together to finance their economic activities, and ensuring finance and market access for pastoralist. As they are living in water scarce environment, special attention should also be given on encouraging participatory soil and water conservation practices, communal watershed and rangeland management. Keywords: Pastoralism, Livelihood, Climate change DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/63-02 Publication date:March 31st 202