Review on the Impact of Climate Change on Crop Production in Ethiopia

This paper reviews the impact of climate change on crop production in Ethiopia. The rainfall variability has significant and negative impact on outputs of crop agriculture in Ethiopia. When the annual rainfall diverges from its mean (both upward and downward), the level of production of all crop types diminished significantly. When there is extreme rainfall, the impact of fertilizer to boost productivity has diminished. This paper also  reviews recent literature concerning a wide range of processes through which climate change could potentially impact global-scale agricultural productivity, and presents projections of changes in relevant meteorological, hydrological and plant physiological quantities from a climate model ensemble to illustrate key areas of uncertainty. Few global-scale assessments have been carried out, and these are limited in their ability to capture the uncertainty in climate projections, and omit potentially important aspects such as extreme events and changes in pests and diseases. The dependence of some regional agriculture on remote rainfall, snow melt and glaciers adds to the complexity. Indirect impacts via sea-level rise, storms and diseases have not been quantified. Perhaps most seriously, there is high uncertainty in the extent to which the direct effects of CO2 rise on plant physiology will interact with climate change in affecting productivity. At present, the aggregate impacts of climate change on global-scale agricultural productivity cannot be reliably quantified. Other factors such as area, demand for crop production (private consumption) and labor force have affected crop production significantly. Since climate change is an inevitable phenomenon, policy makers should introduce adaptation measures to sustain the economic growth observed in the last few years. Keywords: agricultural productivity, climate change, crop production, rain fall variabilit

Transgenic Approaches of Improving Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) to Salt Stress Tolerance

Environmental stresses mainly drought and salinity are now becoming potential threats for global agricultural production. Being a tropical crop, tomato is produced in warm and dry regions of the world, where salt stress is limiting the yield potential of the crop. Plant defense response to salt tolerance is very complex in which many morphological, physiological, and molecular modifications are enhanced. Although considerable effort has been made in developing salt tolerant tomato cultivars through conventional breeding, it has met with limited success due to the complex, multigenic nature of the trait and developmental stage regulated phenomenon of the salt tolerance response. Genetic engineering is an alternative approach to understand the mechanisms of salinity tolerance and apply the knowledge obtained to generate salt tolerant tomatoes. This review aims to highlight the latest developments in biotechnological techniques of improving tomato tolerance to salt stress. Recently, there have been many attempts to enhance tomato tolerance to salt stress including introduction and/or modifications of various genes involved in regulatory, signaling pathways, detoxifying enzymes and genes encoding functional and structural proteins. Plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporters (SOS) and vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporters (NHXn), Dehydrin (DHN), Choline Oxidase (codA), and ROS scavengers have been the major genes targeted in many studies for developing salt stress tolerant transgenic tomato. Moreover, promising results have reported on the identification and use of various abiotic stress responsive elements and/or transcription factors such as SlDREB2, SL-ZH13, Sl-ERF.B.3, AREB, NAC-Type  and WRKY TFs, which positively regulate the expression of the downstream genes in transgenic tomato with response to salt stress.Keywords׃ Salt Stress, Tomato, Transgenic, Transcription FactorDOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-14-01Publication date:July 31st 202

Review on Vertisol Management for the Improvement of Crop Productivity in Ethiopia

Vertisols (deep black clay soils, often known as "black cotton soils") cover 8 million ha of the Ethiopian highlands. They account for about 70 percent of all highland soils with slopes between 0 and 8 percent. The high clay content of the Vertisols is responsible for their heavy water logging in highland areas with abundant rainfall and relatively low evaporation rates. This imposes severe restrictions on the traditional agricultural use of these soils and only 25 percent are currently cropped, mainly using residual moisture. Much of this land is left fallow and subject to erosion during the heavy rains. Evidence suggests there would be substantial increases in crop yields on Vertisols if excess surface soil water were drained off and if appropriate cropping practices were used. A research and outreach project on the improved management and utilization of highland Vertisols is examining the use of animal- powered devices for surface soil drainage, planting and tillage, the development of new cropping systems on drained Vertisols, and improved management of plant nutrients with the use of low cost phosphates and legumes  as sources of nitrogen.The current BBM is found to be a good example of appropriate and sustainable technology that meets the needs of smallholder agriculture. It is very simple and low-cost technology and its application does not require farmers to have or develop advanced skills. However, combining the BBM technology with other complementary technologies like improved high yielding rust resistant wheat varieties and fertilizers is very important in increasing the impacts of BBM adoption. Keywords: clay content, cropping practices, improved management, Vertisol managemen

WRKY Gene Silencing Enhances Tolerance to Salt Stress in Transgenic Tomato

WRKY proteins are superfamily of transcription factors, which are up or down-regulated in response to biotic and abiotic stress though limited study has conducted on transcriptional repression of tomato WRKY genes to salt stress. Thus, this study was conducted on three transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Moneymaker) T1 generation plants carrying RNAi constructs for WRKY5, WRKY12, and WRKY13 to identify WRKYs that can act as negative regulators and uncover associated gene expression. In vitro propagated transgenic and wild type (MM) seedlings were transferred to pots under greenhouse. The plants were watered with standard solution supplemented with 0 or 100 mM NaCl for 4 weeks and evaluated for their responses. The result showed WRKY12 and WRKY13_RNAi lines performed better under salt stress with successful silencing which suggest the two WRKY transcription factors act as negative regulators. SOS1 is up regulated in WRKY13_RNAi, which may lead to low Na+ accumulation and contribute to salt tolerance. Expression of APX is up regulated in WRKY12 and WRKY13_RNAi, which may contribute to salt tolerance mechanism of the two genotypes. Microarray analysis of abiotic stress related genes might give clear indication for the regulatory role of WRKY12 and WRKY13 in abiotic stress tolerance. Keywords׃ Solanum lycopersicum. Salt Stress. WRKY_RNAi. Negative Regulator DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-17-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

Corporate governance in an emerging economy: the antecedents of board performance and practices in the Ethiopian banks

Corporate governance has received considerable attention over the past few decades especially after several corporate scandals and global financial crises surfaced. It is a tool that ensures the wealth maximization interest of shareholders (Grove & Clouse, 2015; Gupta, 2015). Several studies on corporate governance have been made around the world, mostly in the context of developed nations. These have made significant contributions to the corporate governance literature and practice. However, there is scant research that addresses corporate governance issues in the context of emerging economies. In terms of applicability, it is important to view corporate governance not as a whole but in the context of specific fashion due to the economic, political, social and cultural differences among countries. In spite of the numerous studies in the subject and their contributions, a significant gap exists in our understanding of the relationship between corporate governance structure, process and board performances. Most of the prior studies focused on board structure giving much less emphasis to the board process- the missing link. By way of addressing the gap and providing a broader understanding of the relationship among the corporate governance variables, this study, among others, explored how board structure and board process influence the board performance in an emerging market economy context. Board performance has hardly been explored in this setting and this study tries to contribute to the existing literature by examining the antecedents of the boards‟ performance. The antecedents are positioned in the second order constructs that include the board structure and the board process. The antecedents with the board structure go beyond the usual variables of size, CEO duality and the outside/inside directors‟ ratio. A mixed method approach was used in the collection and analysis of the data. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from private and public banks‟ governing bodies and various groups of stakeholders. The quantitative data were mainly analyzed statistically using the Partial Least Square method of the Structural Equation Modeling. The qualitative data obtained from the survey and the interviews were thematically analyzed to identify important concerns. The findings from the quantitative data analysis showed that board structure has positive and significant influence on board process, board service and control v task performance. The findings also indicated a positive and significant relationship between board process and both board service and control task performance. Furthermore, the study revealed that board process mediates the relationships between board structure and both board service and control roles; it was also found that ownership type affects board performance but has no influence on company performance. The stakeholders‟ perceptions of various aspects of corporate governance practices, as beginners, were found out to be not bad. However, Ethiopia, like many emerging market economies, does not yet have a fully developed legal and regulatory system. Additionally, the enforcement capacities of the regulatory organ are at a nascent stage, and a private sector that is able to support effective corporate governance has yet to emerge. The nature of the Ethiopian banking corporate governance system can be characterized by a one tier system with a non-executive board of directors and ownership concentration. The boards of directors are also mainly control oriented rather than strategic or service oriented leaders.Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL)D.B.L

The Influence of Demographic Factors on Saving and Investment Decision of High School Teachers in Ethiopia: A Case Study on Dangila Woreda

This study was conducted with the objective of analyzing and identifying the demographic factors that influence saving and investment decision of high school teachers.  In order to meet this objective, primary data was collected fromthe sample of 88 high school teachers in Dangila Woreda.  Linear regression model was used to analyze the effect of explanatory variables on the dependent variable (saving and investment).  A total of 8 explanatory variables were included in the regression. Out   of these, 4 variables had statistically significant effect on saving and investment decision of the respondents.  The variables that have significant relationship with the dependent variable are: gender, age, family size, social ceremony expense. Keywords:  Saving and Investment, Teachers, Linear Regression Mode

Reproductive biology and condition factor of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) in Lake Koka, Ethiopia

The study was conducted to investigate the breeding season, sex ratio, size at maturation, fecundity and condition factor of African catfish Clarias gariepinus in Lake Koka. A total of 754 fish specimens were collected from October 2020 to August 2021. Total length and weight were measured and sexes were identified and gonad maturity levels were recorded. The sex ratio of African catfish in different size classes was similar to that of a hypothetical 1:1 ratio. The length at first maturity (L50) was 51.8 cm in total length. The mean Fulton’s condition factor of female African catfish ranged from 0.65 ± 0.05 – 0.71 ± 0.14, while the males ranged from 0.62 ± 0.04 – 0.7 ± 0.11. The Fulton’s condition factor was significantly higher in August for females than in the rest of the sampling months. The highest ripe gonads were recorded in the rainy season and the lowest was in the dry season, with the percentage of ripe gonads being 27.5%, while the males showed similarly extended maturity patterns among seasons. Fisheries management for African catfish should therefore take into account the estimated L50 value and the main breeding season to sustain the fishery and benefits the fishermen

Factors Affecting Students’ Active Participation in English Speaking Class: Grade 8 in Focus

This study intended to explore factors affecting students’ participation in speaking English classes. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher used a mixed research design involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. All grade 8th English teachers and students of the school were taken as the population of the study. The students were selected in purposive sampling and teachers were selected using comprehensive sampling. The data were collected using a questionnaire, interview, and classroom observation. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively by using graphs and percentages and open-ended questions were analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that students encountered many difficulties that caused students to be poor participants in speaking classes. Anxiety, lack of motivation, lack of encouragement, fear of criticism by peers, teachers’ approach of teaching, classroom management, classroom environment and the intense use of Amharic in class were the major factors affecting students’ active participation in speaking classes. Moreover, some teachers lack the required training, strategies and techniques to manage a speaking lesson. Other factors that the study unveiled were related to the educational and surrounding environment, in terms of using technological teaching aids and a convenient number of students in class. Besides, the findings also revealed that students had no communication or limited communication during English class between the teacher and among students. Students could not achieve the objective of the course being passive participants in speaking classes. To this end, teachers’ methods of teaching, classroom management, and care of students should be boosted through training

Proverbs as Ideological Weapon for Relegating Women: The Case of East Gojam

Because of the long-lived traditional patriarchal ideology, women in many countries particularly in developing ones like Ethiopia have been relegated in to the margins of society, culture, and history in male-dominated environment. Women have been marginalized in the socio-cultural, economic and political spheres. As part of the world, women in East Gojam are naturally considered inferior to men. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to examine how proverbs function as ideological weapon for relegating women in east Gojam. Interview, focus group discussion and document analysis were used as instruments to gather proverbs from informants obtained through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The ethnographic design or interpretative approach was used to conduct this study. The result revealed that proverbs in east Gojam are used to relegate women drawing different negative images. Such images include women as hussy beings, unreliable and unpredictable, infirm, captious, deserving ill-treatments, source of danger and problems

Evaluating the Suitability of Literary Texts in Grade 10 English Text Book for Language Classrooms

Literary texts increase the learners’ proficiency of integrated language learning as they enable the learners to apply all macro and micro skills. This study evaluated the suitability of literary texts in grade ten English for Ethiopia textbook for language classrooms. The evaluation was made from two aspects-from the learners’ aspect (learners’ literary experience, linguistic proficiency, cultural background, level of understanding, age, interest) and from the text itself (the texts’ content, topics, themes, language, accessibility, free of bias). The study employed descriptive design which involves qualitative research method. Document (textbook) analysis was used as the main tool for gathering data. The result of the evaluation indicated that most of the literary texts do not consider the learners literary experience, cultural background, language competence, age and understanding level. Curriculum designers consider all the students in the country in general and classrooms in particular as if they had equal exposure to literary texts. The literary texts are not considering the students’ cultural background since almost all of the texts are written by foreign in foreign contexts. However, the literary texts are relatively good in relation to language skills aimed to be improved, their length, contents, topics and themes