Assessing the Problems in Linking Tourism and Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Aksum Town

This study aimed at identifying and analyzing the Problems in linking Tourism and Micro and Small Scale Enterprises for economic development in Aksum town. The researchers were initiated to conduct this research, since many problems are centered in the linking of Micro and small enterprises and tourism. Studies show that different constraints including an overall absence of tourism culture, a limited understanding of visitors’ needs, limited access to capital due to high interest rate and no long term credit, and the general and persistent lack of business and entrepreneurial skills hinders the development of tourism and micro and small enterprises. Sample based survey design was used in this study and both primary and secondary sources were used for data gathering. Questionnaire and interview were main sources of data because these are important type of data instruments for survey study. Indeed, observation and secondary sources were also used. The study employed both probability and non-probability sampling techniques for drawing subjects. Probability sampling was be used for selecting respondents from micro and small businesses. Hence, these businesses were stratified into different categories and simple random or lottery systems were used for selecting respondents. Non-probality sampling particularly purposive sampling was also employed to take key informant respondents from government offices and private business sectors. The data from the various sources were collected, analyzed and synthesized to draw inferences and make conclusions by using both qualitative and quantitative approaches and relevant statistical software packages such as Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS), Stata and Microsoft data processing were used to generate graphs and charts. The result shows that MSEs face different challenges related with lack of institutional support, lack of experience, marketing problems, financial problems moral problems etc. Finally, the research team recommends that concerned bodies of government should work together; awareness creation, continuous training and technical and material support should be provided for MSEs. Keywords: Tourism, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises, Linkage, and challeng

Impacts of saving and credit cooperatives in sustaining the livelihoods of its members in Elfeta Woreda, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Saving and credit cooperatives play a great role in the livelihood of rural communities. Yet their role varies across cooperatives and places. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the impacts of saving and credit cooperatives in improving the livelihoods of its members’ in Elfeta district. The study employed descriptive research design, and both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data were collected from 146 members through scheduled interview and 3 key informant interviews. The result of the study indicated that the major source of livelihoods of respondents was agriculture alone (i.e.,62.32%). The cooperative in the study area were established mainly for delivering credit services to its members’, with the role of poverty reduction followed by employment creation. The study also indicated that saving and credit cooperatives were facing lack of awareness and knowledge, lack of access to credit facilities and poor management as major challenges hindering their role in poverty alleviation. Therefore, the government and the other financial sectors should provide support to cooperatives, which could allow them to expand and diversify their business operations

The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on Manufacturing Sector Value Added in Ethiopia: An Application of Bounds Testing Approach to Cointegration

The role of the manufacturing sector for the economic growth and structural change is very low in Ethiopia and performing less compering with that of the other sectors in the economy. So, this research tried to look at how different macroeconomic variables affect the manufacturing sector value added by using annual time series data from 1982 to 2018 estimated by Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL). The result from the Bound test shows manufacturing sector value added has a long-run relationship with macroeconomic variables in the model. In the long-run, general inflation rate, exchange rate, and trade openness have a significant negative effect on the manufacturing sector value-added. In contrast, general government expenditure has a significant positive effect. Also, the Error Correction model shows an adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium of the manufacturing sector value-added. So, the government has to control the general inflation level, promote demand for domestic manufacturing products and competitiveness of domestic firms, and strengthen the backward link of the sector to decrease its import-input dependency to reduce the effect of exchange rate depressions. Lastly, effective and efficient government expenditure will have to be used to increase the manufacturing sector value-added

Effect of macroeconomic, demographic and governance factors on income inequality of selected sub-Saharan Africa Countries

This research tried to look effect of macroeconomic, demographic and governance factors on income inequality in 34 sub-Saharan Africa countries by using unbalance panel data spanning from 2010 to 2017. Two step System GMM estimation was conducted for the econometrics analysis of Dynamic Panel Data model. The finding revealed income inequality has dynamic nature. Also Kuznets’ hypothesis is worked in these countries: where economic growth is found to have significant increasing effect on income inequality in short run while in the long run its’ effect is significant and decreasing. Population growth is the other variable which is found to have increasing effect on income inequality. Differently, FDI and low perception of corruption decrease income inequality. Therefore, much focus will have to be given to achieve sustainable development objective, promoting FDI and controlling of corruption. Also managing the population growth is important.

Assessing Supplies of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises to the Tourism Industry in Aksum Town, Ethiopia

The town of Aksum is historically the richest tourist destination in Ethiopia. Thus, it is known for its cultural tourist attractions i.e. archaeological, religious and historical attractions. The objective of this study is to assess the supplies of micro and small scale enterprises to the tourism industry in the town. A qualitative research design was pursued in this study. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Interviews were conducted with purposely selected subjects as the main instrument of primary data collection. In addition, field visits were conducted to observe the sites and take pictures. Both published and unpublished secondary sources were used, particularly for the literature review. Participants of this study were selected from the tourism and hotel industry, the Small Scale Enterprises Agency, micro and small scale enterprises, the Culture and Tourism Agency and other government offices. The Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Development Project (ESTDP) was also consulted to assess the involvement of micro and small scale enterprises in the tourism sector. The findings indicate that micro and small scale enterprises have been divided into the five main economic sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, construction, trade and service sectors. The Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Development Project has supported the enterprises in working with the tourism industry. The government’s role in organizing and supporting the enterprises however, seems to be weak. Some of the enterprises produce and sell their products to tourism institutions involved as frontline suppliers to the tourists. However, the enterprises are not well-organized and not strong enough to supply the required quantity and quality. Moreover, some of the enterprises don’t have any link with the tourism sector. The policy implications from this study indicate that local government in collaboration with private sectors and voluntary donors should support the local small enterprises to increase their capacity and improve their supplies

Variation and association analysis in grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

The study was conducted on 50 landrace populations of grass pea at Adet Research Center, Ethiopia, using randomised complete Block design in three replications to determine morphological variability and character associations. Evaluations were made on plant and yield characters from eight plants tagged randomly from each plot. The data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (anova), heritability, correlation and cluster analyses. Higher mean and cv values were recorded for most of the agronomic traits for populations collected from Gondar region and the higher altitude group (>2500 m) indicating the presence of high genetic diversity in this region and altitude group. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (pcv) was slightly higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (gcv) for all the characters studied signifying that genotypic factors exerted reasonable effect in estimating the variation. The wide difference between pcv (22.4%) and gcv (13.0%) for seed yield per plant indicated the complexity of this trait and the important role of other factors such as environment in influencing yield potential in addition to the genetic factors. The strong positive association of pods per plant, 100 seed weight and primary branches per plant with seed yield indicated the possibility of selecting lines for yield improvement based on these characters at the very early stage of the grass pea breeding program. Key words/phrases: Correlation grass pea, heritability, Lathyrus sativus, variation SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science Vol.25(2) 2002: 191-20

Preliminary Study on the Impact of Water Quality and Irrigation Practices on Soil Salinity and Crop Production, Gergera Watershed, Atsbi-Wonberta, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Possible long term effects on soil salinity and crop production due to the quality of water and irrigation practices is assessed in an area in Gergera Watershed in Atsbi-Wonberta, Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Ten water  samples collected from hand-dug wells and small household ponds, and thirty soil samples from different depths up to ~100cm were tested for  various parameters such as TDS, pH, anions and cations. Data indicate that both water and soil in terms of quality are acceptable for irrigation  purposes. However, at present the soil salinity is not a serious issue but the data suggests its possible increase with time as indicated by two samples. Some of the issues such as use of sprinklers, organic manure, blending, seasonal crops are discussed in the light of maintaining the  required quality, proper utilization of soil and water resources, and for sustainable development.Keywords: Watershed, Water quality, Soil quality, Hand-dug wells, House-hold Ponds

Evaluation of the effect of sorghum-legume intercropping and its residual effect on yield of sorghum in yeki woreda, sheka zone, Ethiopia

The imbalance between the crop production and population growth is currently the major issue in southern Ethiopia. To feed the growing population, increasing the production of food through growing more crop types in the same field as an intercropping is the right strategy. The current study was aimed at evaluating the effect of sorghum-legume intercropping and its residual effect on yield of sorghum. The land equivalent ratio was calculated for sorghum intercropped with pigeon pea and cowpea. Intercropping sorghum with pigeon pea and cowpea increases the land productivity as its Land Equivalent Ratio is greater than 1. In both cases, the land equivalent ratio is greater than 1 indicating the benefits of intercropping. The residual effect of sorghum intercrop with legumes was evaluated on the yield of sorghum. Although there was no statistically significance differences on yield and yield component of sorghum, sorghum planted on the plot of pigeon pea and cowpea sole has 44.6% and 27.8% yield advantage relative to sorghum alone respectively. Planting sorghum under sorghum-cowpea intercropped condition increase the yield of sorghum by 41.8%. The result also shows 74.0% sorghum yield change was observed when planted after intercropped condition of sorghum with pigeon pea. The productivity of sorghum also increases when planted on the plot of sole legume. The current finding in general shows that legume crops contributed to the yield of sorghum either intercropped with legume or grown up using residual contribution of legumes after a year. Therefore, for maximum sorghum production farmers in the area should plant either as intercrop or after residual effect of legumes. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 9(2): 62-66, December 201

Milk yield performance of two and three breed crosses of dairy cattle in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Two and three way rotational crossing was carried out at the Holetta Research Center using the indigenous Boran (Bos indicus) and exotic dairy cattle breeds of Friesian and Jersey (Bos taurus). The Jersey was used as third breed, to produce three way crosses from Boran Friesian crosses. The Friesian was used as third breed for Boran cross Jerseys. All herds were allowed to graze 8 hours per day during dry seasons (September-June) and fed indoors during the wet season (July- August). Cows were hand milked twice per day and data were collected and recorded for each milking. A total of226 two way and 131 three way records were used to analyze lactation length, total milk yield, average daily milk yield and 305 days milk yield. Least square mean of 305 days milk yield for two and three breed crosses was 1827.00±40.68 and 1704.00 ±368 liters, respectively. Parity and calving season had marked effect on lactation length (P<0.05). Total milk yield was affected only by parity (P<0.05). Milk yield during 305 days lactation was affected by parity and exotic blood level. Cows with higher exotic blood level exceeded cows with low exotic blood levels for both crosses. Therefore, using three breed crossings accompanied with upgrading maintains heterosis achieved in two breed crossing and further improves with milk yield