Promoting adoption of improved seed through the Direct Seed Marketing approach

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Implementation of value added tax and it’s challenges : evidence from Bench Sheko zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Purpose: The study was conducted to assess the implementation of value added tax and related challenges the case of Bench Sheko Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Methodology: The study is based on descriptive data analysis method and the collected primary data has been carefully coded, checked for consistency and entered into the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) and the secondary data related to VAT collection performance of the revenue bureau from 2010/11 to 2017/18 analysis also done. Finding: The result of the study shows that there are less awareness creation and educational programs, inadequate competence, inadequate enforcement of tax laws, absence of consistent follow-up to assess and register unregistered traders, inadequate infrastructure, weak monitoring, tax evasion, inefficient tax intelligence work and tax auditing. Practical implication: This article offers insights to regional revenue bureau and ministry of revenue to give unreserved attention on it and improve the implementation gaps of VAT through fulfilling the necessary tax administration logistics, enhancing tax education, reducing organizational bureaucracy and improving tax payers’ trust. Lastly, the revenue bureau shall make continuous monitoring and evaluation, maintain accountability and transparency, conduct adequate intelligence and tax auditing to achieve the desired objectives. Significance of the study: The study would notably reveal the way of intervention to revenue minster and policy makers to fill on the gaps found and improve its performance related to VAT administration and collection practice in future.peer-reviewe

Arboreal twig-nesting ants form dominance hierarchies over nesting resources.

Interspecific dominance hierarchies have been widely reported across animal systems. High-ranking species are expected to monopolize more resources than low-ranking species via resource monopolization. In some ant species, dominance hierarchies have been used to explain species coexistence and community structure. However, it remains unclear whether or in what contexts dominance hierarchies occur in tropical ant communities. This study seeks to examine whether arboreal twig-nesting ants competing for nesting resources in a Mexican coffee agricultural ecosystem are arranged in a linear dominance hierarchy. We described the dominance relationships among 10 species of ants and measured the uncertainty and steepness of the inferred dominance hierarchy. We also assessed the orderliness of the hierarchy by considering species interactions at the network level. Based on the randomized Elo-rating method, we found that the twig-nesting ant species Myrmelachista mexicana ranked highest in the ranking, while Pseudomyrmex ejectus was ranked as the lowest in the hierarchy. Our results show that the hierarchy was intermediate in its steepness, suggesting that the probability of higher ranked species winning contests against lower ranked species was fairly high. Motif analysis and significant excess of triads further revealed that the species networks were largely transitive. This study highlights that some tropical arboreal ant communities organize into dominance hierarchies

Exploring the Relationship between Spectators’ Experience with Sportscape Elements and Propensity to Re-Patronize: Evidence from Addis Ababa Stadium, Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between spectators’ experience with sportscape elements and propensity to re-patronize in Addis Ababa stadium, Ethiopia. The survey instrument was administered to 150 spectators’ from all seating sections at four different games based on the sportscape model proposed by Wakefield, Blodgett and Sloan (1996) and  Theodorakis and Alexandris (2008) SPORTSERV model. Based on descriptive analysis, spectators’ appeared to have unpleasant experience with majority of the studied sportscape elements and despite the unfavorable experience; result of the regression analysis depicts none significant relationship with spectators’ propensity to re-patronize or attend future games in the stadium. Keywords: Spectators’ Experience, Sportscape Elements, Propensity to Re-Patronize

Short-run Behavior of Defensive Assets in the Ethiopian Commercial Banking Sector

The paper aims to identify and measure the impact of factors responsible in shaping the behavior of defensive assets in the Ethiopian banking sector. The focus of the analysis is on the Ethiopian banking sector rather than an individual bank. An attempt is made to capture how the Ethiopian banking sector adjusts its defensive asset position to changes in money supply, relative yields on asset holdings, discount rate, the demand for different bank assets, availability of funds, and legal reserve requirements. Except for required reserves, discount rate and relative yields on asset holdings, the rest of the explanatory variables are statistically significant in explaining the short-run behavior of defensive assets. The paper concludes initial stock of excess reserves, treasury bills, loans and their lag, narrow money supply, saving deposit of the public held with different financial institutions, and bank capital are what explain short-run behavior of defensive assets in the Ethiopian banking sector. Finally, the difference in the behavior of excess & free reserves found to be negligible which is a signal of insignificant use of short-term borrowings in the Ethiopian commercial banking system

Determinants of Loan Repayment: Evidence from Group Owned Micro and Small Enterprises, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

The study aims to investigate factors affecting loan repayment performance of the group owned MSEs taking borrower characteristics in to consideration. The primary data was collected by distributing semi-structured questionnaire and interviewing 62 group owned MSEs located in Mekelle city, Tigray Regional state of Ethiopia financed by DECSI by using census method, of which 13 group owned MSEs were found to be defaulters and the remaining, 49 MSEs were non-defaulters. An econometrics model (Binary Logistic Regression) was used to analyze the effect of the literature driven variables have on loan repayment (dependent variable). The binary logistic regression result shows among the variables hypothesized to affect loan repayment, initiation and sector have statistically significant effect on loan repayment. Whereas like group composition and group size have statistically insignificant effect on loan repayment.  Therefore, to improve the loan repayment performance of the group owned MSEs and increase the potential contribution of MSEs to the economic growth of the country, all concerned stakeholders must to play their role. Keywords: Determinant, Loan Repayment, Group Owned, Micro and Small Enterprises, Binary Logistic Regression Logistic, Tigray, Ethiopia

Loan Repayment Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises: Evidence from Somali Region, Ethiopia

Viable Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) that reach large number of poor people who are not served by the formal financial institutions have been a prime element for growth of Ethiopia. To operate successfully MFIs have to make sure that loan they disburse have to be repaid back so as to have financially sustainable and viable operation and contribute its own share in poverty reduction of the country. In light of this, this research study was carried to investigate the factors affecting loan settlement of Micro and Small Enterprises(MSEs) financed by Somali Micro-finance institution taking lender characteristics in to consideration. Both primary and secondary data was employed used. The primary data was collected by distributing questionnaire and through interview. A total of 175 Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) were selected using purposive sampling technique. The secondary data was acquired from various issues of annual reports of Somali Micro Finance institution and other concerned institutions. Both descriptive analysis and econometric model (binary logistic regression) was employed to analyze the effect of the literature driven variables on loan repayment (dependent variable) by borrowers. The binary logistic regression result revealed that among the variables hypothesized to affect loan repayment period, grace period, and timeliness of loan release have statistically significant effect on loan repayment by the borrowers Whereas loan size have statistically insignificant effect on loan repayment performance by the borrowers. Keywords: Loan Repayment Performance, MSEs, MFI, Logistic Regression, Somali Microfinance DOI: 10.7176/DCS10-9-01 Publication date:September 30th 2020

Chemical Reaction: Diagnosis and Towards Remedy of Misconceptions

Experience and literature show that most high school students do not have the correct mental models of coefficients and subscripts in chemical reactions. To contribute towards the conceptual reconstruction of scientific mental models of coefficients and subscripts in a chemical reaction a new teaching-learning strategy is suggested: Tetrahedral - in - Zone of Proximal Development (T-ZPD). This T-ZPD instructional strategy was introduced in an experimental group and compared with the traditional (conventional) approach as a control group on the effects of students’ misconceptions and conceptual reconstruction of chemical reactions. The study has been conducted in high school chemistry classes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the participants of the main study included a total of 160 students. The Chemical Reaction - Concept Inventory was administered to both groups as pre and post tests followed by interviews with selected students. The results of the independent t-test on students’ post test scores on the concept inventory of chemical reaction show that the T-ZPD group students’ conceptual reconstruction towards the scientific concept is statistically significantly better compared to the Traditional group students

Population Level Consequences of Spatial Networks: Species Coexistence and Implications for Invasive Species

In Chapter I, I developed a network model of inter-specific competition that generated two distinct spatial patterns: mosaics and spiral waves. We find that diversity is rapidly lost when dispersal and interactions occurs over relatively small spatial scales (i.e. small amounts mixing). This pattern of diversity loss is more pronounced under negative and zero covariance levels, while species diversity is maintained under a positive covariance. In Chapter II, I investigated the ecological differences in resource discovery and recruitment by W. auropunctata within its native range (Mexico) and introduced range (Puerto Rico). We found that W. auropunctata was slower at discovering resources in Puerto Rico, as compared to its native range of Mexico. This suggests that competitive traits such as resource discovery and recruitment are not necessarily indicative of invasive success. In Chapter III, I investigated the invasion dynamics of the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata. Our results provide support for the biotic-resistance hypothesis in which native ant species in Mexico are able to resist W. auropunctata as compared to the introduced range of Puerto Rico. However, this pattern depends strongly on the temporal aspect of invasion. We propose that temporal considerations are necessary when determining the competitive abilities of native and exotic ants. In Chapter IV, I examined the effects of phorid flies on the competitive outcome between the arboreal ants W. auropunctata and native ant L. iniquum. We found that the presence of phorid fly significantly reduced recruitment of L. iniquum workers to resources through induced behavioral changes thereby increasing the invasion ability of W. auropunctata. In Chapter V, I examined competitive networks among twig nesting ant species at local and regional spatial scales across a 50-ha coffee farm. We found that dominance rank of ant species was not correlated with relative abundance across the entire coffee farm; however, transitive networks were correlated with increases in relative abundance at the local scale compared with relative abundances at the regional scalePHDEcology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135785/1/senay_1.pd

A Problem of Social Capital and Cultural Norms?

This paper asserts that in Ethiopian society, there exist certain cultural norms or ‘dysfunctional behaviours’ that inhibit effective communication, lead to intra-group conflict, and make conflict resolution difficult. This has resulted in a diminished capacity for cooperation and a dearth of social capital and civil society, which does not bode well for development and democracy. It is imperative that research is expanded in the neglected area of cultural norms and social capital in Ethiopian society, and that intervention strategies are designed to increase social capital by addressing cultural norms directly through social marketing, awareness raising, and other mechanisms