Impacts of Border in Borderland Conflict along the Ethio-Sudan Border: Evidence from Metema Woreda, North-Western Ethiopia

The aim of the study is to understand the dynamics of borderland conflicts in one location –Gonder, north-west Ethiopia, specifically, Metema Woreda – which lies along the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The study employed qualitative research methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, case studies, and non-participant observation. The colonial origin of the Ethio-Sudan border is the overall background to the confrontation between farmers and investors over the contested lands in the region. The continued uncertainty over the precise location of the border has aggravated conflict that has yet to be resolved

Assessment of the Perception of Development Agents on the Impact of Integrated Watershed Development Practices on Yield and Land Productivity in SNNPRS, Ethiopia

Land degradation, particularly soil erosion in Ethiopia is a serious challenge in reduction of fertility status of soil, declining agricultural yields and a problem in food security and livelihood of farmers, of Southern Nations, Nationalities and People

Fertility Status of Married Women and Its Determinants in Ethiopia

This study investigates determinant factors of fertility among married women in Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa with rapid population growth. The data used for the analysis was obtained from the 2014 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey which was carried out by the Central Statistical Agency. A generalized linear model (GLM) analysis was carried out to investigate the effect of socioeconomic and demographic factors on the number of children ever born by a married woman of age 15-49 years. High fertility was independently associated with residing in urban areas, increased household economic status, younger age at first birth and not using contraceptives. Current age and media exposure, household head gender and media exposure, household head gender and regional state, mother’s education and, regional state and media exposure and regional state were found to jointly affect fertility level

Efficacy of Azadirachta indica (A. Juss) seed powder water extract against Aulacuspis tubercularis newsteed (homoptera: diaspididae) on mango (Mangifera indica l.) In East Wollega, Ethiopia

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera. Among the many tropical fruits, mango has been identified as the most important and considered to be the king of fruits from a socio-cultural, commercial and environmental point of view and grown in over 100 countries including Ethiopia. However, many biotic and abiotic factors limit its production and productivity across the globe. Aulacuspis tubercularis Newsteed (Homoptera: Diaspididae) commonly known as white mango scale is a serious insect pest of mango in Ethiopia. Though A. tubercularis introduced to Ethiopia almost a decade ago, technologies towards its control is almost nil or few which enabled the pest to invade the whole country where mango is grown to the extent of causing 50-100% crop losses. The current study was conducted to know the efficacy of Azadirachta indica (A. Juss) seed powder water extract in the management of A. tubercularis under field condition. Field experiments were conducted at Uke and Arjo Gudetu in western Ethiopia. The treatments were different spray concentrations. (0.05, 0.1 and 0.15mg/ml of water). The treatments were applied 3 times at 10 days interval after complete infestation was observed. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design in four replications. Mortality count was done 10 days after 1st, 2nd and 3rd treatment applications. The results obtained revealed that water extracts of A. indica seed powder at 0.15 concentration significantly (p<0.05) reduced the population of A. tubercularis at both experimental sites. Crawlers and males were more affected than the females. Hence, the use of A. indica seed water extract can be recommended for the management of A. tubercularis. &nbsp

Assessment of the Impacts of Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Control Activities in Dawuro Zone, Ethiopia

  አህፅሮት የገንዲ በሽታ በቆላ ዝንብ በተወረሩ አካባቢዎች ላይ ለእንስሳት ርባታ ሥራ ከፍተኛ ማነቆ ሲሆን በዳውሮ ዞንም ተመሳሳይ የሆነ ችግር እያስከተለ ይገኛል:: በቆላ ዝንብ በተጠቁ በዞኑ አከባቢዎች የተለያዩ የቆላ ዝንብና ገንዲ በሽታ መከላከያ ዜዴዎች ተግባራዊ ሲደረጉ ቆይቷል:: ይሁን እንጂ እነዚህ ዜዴዎች ያመጡትን ፋይዳ የሚያሣይ መረጃ የለም:: በዚህ ጥናት በአከባቢው በሽታው ያለበትን ደረጃ የሚገመግም የምርምር ዜዴ በመጠቀም ከሕዳር 2017 እስከ ሰኔ 2018 እ.ኤ.አ ድረስ ምርምር ተካሂዷል:: የጥናቱ ዋና ዋና ዓላማዎችም: የቆላ ዝንብና ሌሎች የገንዲ በሽታ አስተላላፊ ነፍሳት ስርጭትን ማሰስ እና በዞኑ ተግባራዊ የተደረጉ የመከላከያ ዜዴዎች ያመጡትን ፋይዳ መገምገም ናቸው:: የተለዩ ዓላማዎችን ለማሳካት የቆላ ዝንብ ማጥመጃ መሣሪያ በመትከል የቆላ ዝንብና ሌሎች የገንዲ በሽታ አስተላላፊ ነፍሳትን መለየት ተችሏል፡፡ የተዘጋጁ መጠይቆችም ለእንስሳት አርቢዎች ተሠራጭቶ መረጃዎች ተሰብስቧል:: የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት እንደሚያሳየው የቆላ ዝንብና ሌሎች የገንዲ በሽታ አስተላላፊ ነፍሳት መጠን በቅደም ተከተል 5.37 እና 0.39 ዝንብ/ትራፕ/በቀን ሆኗል:: የመከላከያ ዜዴዎች ተግባራዊ ከመደረጉ በፊት የነበረው አማካይ የቆላ ዝንብ መጠን 0.17+0.38 ዝንብ/ትራፕ/በቀን ሲሆን ተግባራዊ ከተደረገ በኋላ ያሁኑ ጥናት ውጤት 5.50+0.51 ዝንብ/ትራፕ/በቀን ሆኖ ተመዝግቧል:: የተለያዩ የመረጃ ምንጮች እንደሚያሣዩት የመከለከያ ዜዴዎቹ ከተደረጉበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ ሳያቋርጡ እየተተገበሩ የቆዩ ቢሆንም ነገር ግን የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት እንዳረጋገጠው የቆላ ዝንብ መጠንና የበሽታው ሥርጭት ደረጃ እየጨመረ መጥቷል:: ስለሆነም የገንዲ በሽታ አስተላላፊ ነፍሳት ከቅርብ ርቀት ቀጥጥር የተደረገበትን ቦታ መልሶ በመውረር በሽታውን ሥርጭት የመጨመር ሁኔታ ሊኖር ስለሚችል ቀጣይነት ያለው የተቀናጀ እና ሀገር አቀፍ የሆነ የቆላ ዝንብና ገንዲ በሽታ መቆጣጠሪያና መከላከያ ዜዴዎች ግምገማና ክትትል መደረግ አለበት::   Abstract African Animal Trypanosomosis is the major constraint of livestock production in tsetse infested areas of Ethiopia and is the major challenge in Dawuro zone. Various interventions have been applied to control the disease in tsetse infested areas. However, there is a shortage of information on the impacts of these control methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November, 2017 to June, 2018 with the aims of assessing the apparent prevalence of the diseases and density of tsetse flies and the impacts of applied control interventions. The trap deployment and questionnaire survey were conducted. The apparent density of tsetse and Stomoxys were 5.37 FTD and 0.39 FTD respectively. The overall mean vector density of pre-intervention was 0.17 + 0.38 while post intervention was 5.50 ± 0.51 respectively. The findings of the questionnaire survey showed that livestock keepers were familiar with ruminant trypanosomosis, its vectors as well as the effect of the major control interventions applied in areas. There are continuous control interventions applied in the area but the results show that the disease prevalence and apparent density were increasing. Therefore, a comprehensive national wise evaluation of the impacts of control interventions should be undertaken.     &nbsp

Field Pea Variety Development for Yield and Disease Resistance for Potential Areas - Registration of a Field Pea Variety Named ‘Bursa’

Field pea (pisum sativum L.) variety ‘Bursa’, with a pedigree (EH 04053 × EH 04051) and breeder ID designation of ‘EH05027-2’ was released in 2015 for highland areas of the country. The variety has been registered by Kulumsa Agricultural research center and it was tested at better representative environments (Kulumsa, Bekoji, Asassa, Kofele, Adet, Adadi, Jeldu and Sinana) representing mid-highland and highland (1800 to 3000 mean above sea level) agro-ecologies during 2012- to 2013- cropping season. The variety produced 2.78% and 3.09% seed yield advantage over the standard checks Burkitu and Letu, and produced 8% seed size advantage over the shiro-type standard check Letu respectively. It also had comparable resistance/tolerant level to major field pea diseases as checks. The variety is mainly characterized by superior mean grain yield as compared from standard check both Burkitu and Letu based on different yield measurement and stability testing parameters across location and over year yield recorded data from national variety trials

Risk-Contingent Credit (RCC): assessing smallholders' agricultural credit needs and the feasibility of implementing RCC in Ethiopia

Agricultural credit is an important instrument for improving farm productivity, the welfare of farm households, and their resilience to weather-related shocks. However, small-scale farmers’ access to credit is limited by demand- and supply-side constraints. Risk-contingent credit, which bundles credit with insurance against climate risks, is one promising solution. This study, conducted in three woredas in Ethiopia, implemented a game designed to increased farmers’ understanding of the product and finds that farmers recognize the potential of RCC

The cost of suspected and confirmed bacterial meningitis cases treated at Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Infections of the central nervous system (CNS) such as meningitis or encephalitis can be caused by myriad of microorganisms and may be life-threatening. In Ethiopia, it is an important cause of premature death and disability, being the 9th most common cause of years of life lost and loss of disability adjusted life years. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of suspected and confirmed bacterial meningitis among inpatient managed patients at JUMC.METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 28 to September 12, 2018. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in this study. Checklists were used to collect the types of laboratory tests performed and prescribed medications. This cost of illness study was conducted from the patient perspectives. We employed a micro-costing bottom-up approach to estimate the direct cost of meningitis. The humancapital approach was used for estimating wages lost.RESULT: Among total patients admitted and treated in JUMC, higher proportions (69.8%) were suspected bacterial meningitis but have been treated as confirmed cases. Total median costs for both suspected and confirmed bacterial meningitis patients were estimated to be ETB 98,812.32 (US $3,593.2; IQR 1,303.0 to 5,734.0). Total median direct cost was ETB 79,248.02 (US$2,881.75; IQR 890.7 to 3,576.7). Moreover, 45.3% of the patients reported that they were either admitted or given medication at JUMC or nearby health facility before their current admissions.CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that most cases of bacterial meningitis were treated only empirically, and the cost of the treatment was high, especially for resource-limited countries like Ethiopia. To minimize the burden of meningitis and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations, the availability of diagnostic techniques is vitally important

Enset landrace diversity in major enset growing regions of Southern Ethiopia

Enset [Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman] is an important food security crop of the Southern Ethiopian highlands. The cultivation of enset is characterised by a wide variety of landraces, suitable to varying agro-ecological conditions and with multiple uses by households. The objective of this paper is to present enset landrace diversity, characteristics and uses in Ethiopia. The study was done through interviews with 375 households covering 20 communities (kebeles) and eight ethnic groups, along an altitudinal range of 1,500 to 3,000 masl across the main enset-producing belt in Southern Ethiopia. A total of 296 locally named enset landraces were recorded. Landrace presence was mostly constrained at the kebele and zone levels, with limited overlap in landrace names across these boundaries. Moderate to high enset landrace diversity was observed on farms across the entire study region. Cultivating a variety of landraces not only allowed for diversified uses, but increases the likelihood of retained yield and food security under variable environmental circumstances. Farmer experience and indigenous knowledge allow for the selection of specific landraces suited to prevalent agro-ecological conditions. We identified a perception bias in the attribution of landrace agro-ecological characteristics, with farmer insight often dependent on the environmental conditions that the local community was exposed to. We underscore the importance of research-based characterisation of enset landraces, to ensure optimal cultivation of this food security crop in changing climatic conditions