Indigenous chicken production and marketing systems in Ethiopia: Characteristics and opportunities for market-oriented development

This working paper presents a synthesis of research findings undertaken in three woredas or districts (Bure, Fogera in Amhara Regional State and Dale in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State) in Ethiopia. These woredas are Pilot Learning Woredas (PLWs) of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers Project being implemented by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The major objective of these studies was to assess the existing indigenous chicken production and marketing systems and identify major constraints and priorities for improvement and extension interventions. A formal survey with structured questionnaire and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods relevant to village chicken production systems were used to collect data. The result of these studies revealed that the dominant chicken production system of the study districts is an extensive/traditional type of production, using local chicken ecotypes, managed mainly on scavenging with seasonal feed supplementation of home-grown grains and household food refusals

Fluoride levels in commercially available rice in Ethiopia

Rice (Oryza sativa, Asian; Oryza glaberrima, African) is an important staple food crop in many Sub-Saharan African and Asian countries, so the consumer’s daily bowl of rice needs to be safe and of good quality. The objective of this study was to determine level of fluoride in raw and cooked rice by ion selective electrode. Alkaline fusion was used for sample preparation of six varieties for both the raw rice and rice cooked with tap water and fluoridated water. Fluoride levels ranged from 0.1-5.5 mg/kg in raw rice sample. Rice which was cooked with different fluoride levels of water showed increment depending on the method of cooking. In absorption method of cooking fluoride level was higher than that cooked by excess method and it may be due to the fact that all the fluoride in the water used for cooking by absorption method goes in to the grain while in excess method the remaining water was removed. The employed alkaline fusion procedure was evaluated using spiking method and an acceptable percentage recovery was obtained. A statistical analysis of variance at 95% confidence level for fluoride determination indicated significant difference between the mean of each variety of rice samples. KEY WORDS: Fluoride, Ethiopian rice, Imported rice, Staple food, Cooking methods Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2013, 27(2), 179-189.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i2.

Cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems and opportunities for market-orientation in Fogera woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Fogera woreda, South Gondar Zone of the Amhara National Regional State in northwestern Ethiopia in 2005/06. The aim was to characterize cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems, identify the major constraints and provide development interventions for more market-orientation. Twelve kebeles were randomly selected (five from the Fogera plains and seven outside the plains) based on their potential for cattle milk and meat production. A total of 480 households were sampled from these kebeles and focus group discussion, personal observations and administration of semi-structured questionnaires on milk and meat production practices were employed. Only 12 (2.52%) of the respondents were female-headed households. About 98.8% of cattle milk and meat production was based on traditional husbandry using indigenous cattle breeds. The Fogera cattle is the major breed used and is mainly found in the Damote, Sendeye and Tigre mender villages. The main feed resources in the woreda are communal grazing land and crop residues of teff, rice, finger millet, barley, wheat, chickpea, field pea and maize. The communal grazing land currently accounts for about 9602.4 ha; out of which 3418.5 ha (35.6%) is infested by a noxious weed known as Asracantha longifolia (amykila). Over a period of two years, large area of communal grazing land has been transformed into crop farms, mainly to rice production, and this has apparently created severe feed shortage in the woreda. Flooding of the plains during the wet season from Gumara and Rib rivers further reduced the availability of grazing land. In addition, large number of animals are trekked from the highlands of Fogera and adjacent woredas of Dera and Estie to the plains during the dry season and this has resulted in inter-breeding of the Fogera cattle breed with highland zebus and has exacerbated the feed shortage. Rice husk, a by-product from rice polishers, is becoming an important feed resource. On average, about 35 kg of rice husk is produced from a quintal of rice. The major water resources are wells (48.8%), rivers (47.2%), lake (3%), ponds (2.3%) and tap water (0.2%). Cattle are watered once a day. Trypanosomiasis, facioliasis and schistosomiasis are the most prevalent diseases

Dairy production, processing and marketing systems of Shashemene-Dilla area, South Ethiopia

Two hundred forty dairy producers, both rural and urban producers in the four major towns representing the Shashemene-Dilla area in southern Ethiopia, were selected using a multi-stage sampling techniques, with the objective of characterizing dairy production, processing/handling, marketing systems as well as to prioritize constraints and opportunities for dairy development in the area. To characterize dairy marketing systems in the study area, a Rapid Market Appraisal (RMA) technique was employed. Dairy marketing systems were studied with the help of topical guidelines. Dairy producers were interviewed using a pre-tested and structured formal questionnaire. Two major dairy production systems, namely the urban and mixed crop-livestock systems were identified, and again classified into two categories based on the major crops grown as a cereal crop producing and enset-coffee producing areas. The average family size of urban and rural dairy producers was 7.19 ± 0.26 and 7.58 ± 0.23 persons, respectively. Dairy contributed about half of the income of urban producers but it made up only 1.6% of the total income of families in the mixed crop-livestock production system. Average farm size of households in the mixed system was 1.14 ± 0.99 ha, while more than 97% of the urban producers use their own residence compound for dairying, which is only 200-400 square meters. Average herd size per household in the cereal based mixed system (3.8 ± 0.42) was higher than in the enset-coffee based systems (2.3 ± 0.36). Out of the total herds of urban producers, 32% of cattle were local cows while 19% were crossbred. Husbandry practices like feeding, watering, housing, breeding, milking, calf rearing, waste management, and record keeping were also different between the two productions systems. An estimated total of 9,645,020 litres of milk was produced annually from 4463 small and medium farms in the four towns. The majority of producers (61.7%) in the mixed crop-livestock system process milk at home, while the majority of urban producers (79.2%) produced milk for sale. An informal dairy marketing system was the only marketing system in the area. Different market channels and market outlets were identified for different dairy commodities, butter being the one having the longest channel. Prices of dairy commodities were influenced by different factors like season, access to market/distance from towns, fasting and non-fasting days, festivals and holidays, level of supply vs. purchasing ability of the urban dwellers, and quality of dairy products. Constraints for dairy development in the area included: availability and costs of feeds, shortage of farm land, discouraging marketing system, waste disposal problems, genotype improvement problem, poor extension and animal health services, and knowledge gap regarding improved dairy production systems. The rapid urbanization, subsequent increase in human population and standard of living of the urban dwellers especially the regional town Awassa as well as the rest three zonal towns can be considered as a good prospect for the development of dairy in the area. Dairying in the studied areas can be improved by solving major problems of smallholder dairy producers through services related to feed supply, access to land, good marketing systems, allocating place for waste handling and management and through provisions of veterinary, artificial insemination (AI), credit, extension, and training services at reasonable time and cost. Moreover, as market is the deriving force to the production and productivity of dairying, encouraging private investors to establish dairy processing plants in the area may be an option as a permanent market outlet for both rural and urban dairy producers through an organized milk collection schemes

Development and validation of a single HPLC method for the determination of thirteen pharmaceuticals in bulk and tablet dosage form

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of thirteen selected pharmaceutical compounds (metformin, amoxicillin, chloroquine, theophylline, trimethoprim, caffeine, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, acetylsalicylic acid, doxycycline hyclate, metronidazole, albendazole and cloxacillin) in bulk and tablet dosage form. Chromatographic separation using a Kromasil C18 column, gradient elution with aqueous formic acid (0.1%), methanol and acetonitrile, a UV absorption wavelength of 250 nm and a mobile phase flow rate of 1 mL/min over a 22 min run time was optimized for complete separation of the selected target compounds. The method was validated and results for: linearity, precision, sensitivity, accuracy, specificity, suitability and method robustness were obtained and met the ICH guidelines. Calibration curve correlation coefficients ranged from 0.9985-0.9998 and the percentage relative standard deviations for repeated analysis was below 5%, indicating acceptable method precision. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.020-0.27 µg/L and 0.080-0.91 µg/L, respectively. The accuracy study yielded recoveries in the ranges 86.0-102% for pure compounds and 90.9-106% for compounds in tablet dosage form. The method is robust for small or deliberate changes to the chromatographic parameters and found to be appropriate for analysis of tablets for the determination of the thirteen pharmaceuticals.                     KEY WORDS: Pharmaceuticals, Bulk determination, Tablet dosage, High performance liquid chromatography, Method development, ICH guidelines   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(1), 17-31. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v35i1.

Quantification of Methane Emissions from Indoor-Fed Fogera Dairy Cows Using Laser Methane Detector

Portable laser methane detectors (LMDs) may be an economical means of estimating CH4 emissions from ruminants. Here, we validated an LMD-based approach and then used that approach to evaluate CH4 emissions from indigenous dairy cows in a dryland area of Ethiopia. First, we validated our LMD-based approach in Simmental crossbred beef cattle (n = 2) housed in respiration chambers and fed either a high- or low-concentrate diet. We found that the exhaled air CH4 concentrations measured by LMD were linearly correlated with the CH4 emissions determined by infrared-absorption-based gas analyzer (r2 = 0.55). On the basis of these findings, we constructed an estimation equation to determine CH4 emissions (y, mg min−1) from LMD CH4 concentrations (x, ppm m) as y = 0.4259x + 38.61. Next, we used our validated LMD approach to examine CH4 emissions in Fogera dairy cows grazed for 8 h d−1 (GG, n = 4), fed indoors on natural-grassland hay (CG1, n = 4), or fed indoors on Napier-grass (Pennisetum purpureum) hay (CG2, n = 4). All the cows were supplemented with concentrate feed. Daily CH4 emissions did not differ among the three groups; however, a numerically greater milk yield was obtained from the CG2 cows than from the GG cows, suggesting that Napier-grass hay might be better than natural-grassland hay for indoor feeding. The CG1 cows had higher CH4 emissions per feed intake than the other groups, without significant increases in milk yield and body-weight gain, suggesting that natural-grassland hay cannot be recommended for indoor-fed cows. These findings demonstrate the potential of using LMDs to rapidly and economically evaluate feeding regimens for dairy cows in areas under financial constraint, while taking CH4 emissions into consideration

Inland wetlands mapping and vulnerability assessment using an integrated geographic information system and remote sensing techniques

The understanding of inland wetlands’ distribution and their level of vulnerability is important to enhance management and conservation efforts. The aim of the study was to map inland wetlands and assess their distribution pattern and vulnerability to natural and human disturbances such as climate change (temperature increase) and human activities by the year 2080. Inland wetland types i.e. forested/shrub, emergent and open water bodies were classified and mapped using maximum likelihood standard algorithm. The spatial distribution pattern of inland wetlands was examined using average nearest neighbor analysis. A weighted geospatial vulnerability analysis was developed using variables such as roads, land cover/ land use (developed and agricultural areas) and climate data (temperature) to predict potentially vulnerable inland wetland types. Inland wetlands were successfully classified and mapped with overall accuracy of about 73 percent. Clustered spatial distribution pattern was found among all inland wetland types with varied degree of clustering. The study found about 13 percent of open water bodies, 11 percent of forested/shrub and 7 percent of emergent wetlands potentially most vulnerable to human and natural stressors. This information could be used to improve wetland planning and management by wetland managers and other stakeholders

Malaria elimination in Zanzibar: where next?

In 2018, Zanzibar developed a national malaria strategic plan IV (2018-2023) to guide elimination of malaria by 2023. We assessed progress in the implementation of malaria activities as part of the end-term review of the strategic plan. The review was done between August and October 2022 following the WHO guideline to assess progress made towards malaria elimination, effectiveness of the health systems in delivering malaria case management; and malaria financing. A desk review examined available malaria data, annual work plans and implementation reports for evidence of implemented malaria activities. This was complemented by field visits to selected health facilities and communities by external experts, and interviews with health management teams and inhabitants to authenticate desk review findings. A steady increase in the annual parasite incidence (API) was observed in Zanzibar, from 2.7 (2017) to 3.6 (2021) cases per 1,000 population with marked heterogeneity between areas. However, about 68% of the detected malaria cases were imported into Zanzibar. Malaria case follow-up and investigation increased from <70% in 2017 to 94% and 96% respectively, in 2021. The review noted a 3.7-fold increase of the health allocation in the country's budget, from 31.7 million USD (2017/18) to 117.3 million USD (2022/23) but malaria allocation remained low (<1%). The varying transmission levels in the islands suggest a need for strategic re-orientation of the elimination attempts from a national-wide to a sub-national agenda. We recommend increasing malaria allocation from the health budget to ensure sustainability of malaria elimination interventions