The Impact and Dynamics of External Debt Servicing on Economic Growth of Ethiopia

The objective of this study was to examine the impact and dynamics of external debt servicing on economic growth of Ethiopia using data for the period from 1982 to 2018.Hence, to achieve its objective the researcher uses both descriptive and econometric method of data analysis. The analysis was based on secondary data retrieve from World Bank (WB) and Central Statistics Authority (CSA). The econometrics model tests such as unit root test, co-integration test and diagnostic test have been done. The study suggests that both long run and short-run indicates that both growth of gross government expenditure and growth of capital formation have significant positive impact on economic growth of Ethiopia in the long run. Based on the finding of this paper it recommends, the authorities were responsible to promote the growth of capital formation to enhance economic growth of Ethiopia by implementing an appropriate policy. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-15-05 Publication date: August 31st 201

The Dynamics of Inflation in Ethiopia: Time Series Approach

One of the prime objectives of governments is achieving stable macroeconomic condition. This objective requires that prices be kept to a reasonably stable level. High and persistent inflation introduces uncertainties into the economy and may lead to slowdown of economic growth by discouraging domestic as well as foreign investments. It may also cause balance of payments problems by eroding a country’s competitive advantage. Moreover, because it hits the poor the most it needs to be tackled. This study aims at understanding the forces behind the current inflationary process in Ethiopia. In order to achieve the stated objective a synthesis model of monetarist and cost-push inflation theories is estimated using vector autoregressive (VAR) and single equation error correction models. The estimated models enable to understand the short run and the long run inflation dynamics in Ethiopia between 1980 and 2017.The result shows that in the long run real money supply. Real GDP growth real effective exchange rate and Budget deficit have significantly affect inflation. But budget deficit and real GDP is not found the expected sign rather. The short run the change in real GDP growth and change real money supply significantly affect inflation. However the change real effective exchange rate and budget deficit are insignificant. The study suggests that adopting restrictive monetary and fiscal policy. Have essential tools to curb inflationary problem of Ethiopia. Keywords: inflation, ECM,GDP,VAR DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-11-01 Publication date:June 30th 202

Performances of Arsi-Bale Lambs Fed Diets Based on Sugarcane Tops Silage and Hay as a Partial Substitute for Natural Pasture Hay

አህፅሮት በዚህ ጥናት ከሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ የተዘጋጀ ድርቆሽና ገፈራ (ሳይሌጅ) ከተፈጥሮ የሣር ድርቆሽ ጋር ያለው አንጻራዊ የመኖ ጠቃሜታ በታዳጊ የሥጋ በጎች ላይ ተገምግሟል፡፡ ከሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ፤ ከሞላሰስና ዩሪያ ውህድ የተዘጋጀን ገፈራ ወይም ድርቆሽ እንደአማራጭ አሳራማ መኖ በመጠቀምና የተፈጥሮ ሣር ድርቆሽን በከፊል (0፤33 እና 67 እጅ) በመተካትና ለሶስት ወራት ያህል በጎችን በመመገብ በመኖ ተበይነት፤ በበጎች እድገት፤ በሥጋ ምርትና ኢኮኖሚያዊ ጠቃሜታ ላይ መረጃዎች ተሰብስቧል፡፡ የጥናቱም ውጤት እንደምያሳየው አጠቃላይ የደረቅ መኖ ተበይነት ደረጃ ከሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ሳይሌጅ መጠን መጨመር ጋር ተያይዞ ቀንሷዋል፡፡ይሁን እንጂ የመኖዎች መለያየት በበጎች እድገትና የሥጋ ምርት ላይ እምብዛም ልዩነት አላሳየም፡፡  በተጨማሪም አብላጫውን (67በመቶ) የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ድርቆሽ ወይም ገፈራ ያለውን መኖ የተመገቡ በጎች የተፈጥሮ ሣር ብቻ የያዘ መኖ ከተመገቡት በጎች የበለጠ አዋጪ (አትራፊ) ሆኗል፡፡ በመሆኑም በጥሩ ሁኔታ የተዘጋጀ የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ገፈራ ወይም ድርቆሽ የተፈጥሮ ሣር ድርቆሽን በመተካት ለሥጋ እንስሳት  ጠቃሚ  እንደሆነ ጥናቱ ያሳያል፡፡  Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate nutrient intake, growth performance, carcass characteristics and economic performances of yearling Arsi-Bale lambs fed diets based either sugarcane tops (SCT) silage or hay replacing natural pasture hay as a roughage source. The treatments were: natural pastures hay (NPH) without SCT (T1, control); substituting 33 and 67% NPH with either SCT silage (T2, T3) or SCT hay (T4, T5), on dry matter (DM) basis, respectively. Roughages were fed ad libitum along with 350 g/head/day concentrate mix. Thirty yearling Arsi-Bale lambs (Initial body weight, 19.36±0.27 kg) were allotted to the treatments in randomized complete block design. The feeding trial lasted for 90 days followed by slaughter for carcass evaluation. Dry matter intake was lower (P<0.05) for lambs on the higher silage based diet, but not affected (p>0.05) by the level of SCT hay. Lambs fed on a diet containing higher SCT hay had the lowest (P<0.0001) crude protein (CP) intake, while the intake of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were lower (P<0.05) on higher silage diet, which associated with lower DM intake. Treatments did not vary (P>0.05) in growth performances, feed efficiency (FE) and carcass characteristics of the lambs. The average final body weight, body weight change, average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (FE) were: 27.21 kg, 7.85 kg, 87.22 g and 0.110 (g gain/g DM intake), respectively. Higher net income (113.08 Birr/lamb) and profit margin (0.47 Birr/lamb) were fetched by lambs fed on the silage based diet, followed by the group fed SCT hay and control diet. In conclusion, SCT silage or hay can replace up to 67% of natural pasture hay for yearling Arsi-Bale lambs at an economic advantage. &nbsp

Development and evaluation of Indirect Hemagglutination Antibody Test (IHAT) for serological diagnosis and screening of bovine cysticercosis in Ethiopia

The study was conducted to develop and evaluate an Indirect Hemagglutination Antibody Test (IHAT) for the serological diagnosis of Cysticercus bovis in live animals. IHAT was set-up in-house and used to test serum samples of cattle against sheep red blood cell (SRBC) coated with crude extracts of C. bovis cyst. Serum samples for screening were collected from Addis Ababa abattoir (n=522), a dairy farm from the suburbs of Addis Ababa (n=101), and a traditional extensive farm (n=109). Postmortem inspection was conducted on a total of 522 animals slaughtered in Addis Ababa Abattoir, out of which 39 (7.5%) were positive for C. bovis.  Thirty-seven of these had viable C. bovis cysts. IHAT titres were determined from serially diluted sera, with a cut-off value set at a titre of 1:64. Cross reaction with other helminths was either absent or very low.  Sensitivity and specificity of the IHAT were 100% and at least 90%, respectively. Based on this test, 149 cattle (28.5%) from the Abattoir, 33 cattle (30.3%) from the extensive farm and 8 cattle (7.9%) from the dairy farm were positive for C. bovis. The difference in prevalence between the dairy farm and extensive farm was significant (

Carcass characteristics of draught cattle released for beef in Eastern Ethiopia

Most cattle used for beef production in Ethiopia are Zebu breeds. Usually released for beef when they are aged for plowing and in poor body condition. However, there is little available information on carcass yield and percentage earned from these cattle. Therefore, the study was conducted to evaluate the carcass yield and the percentage of cattle released for beef after used in draught power. This study used 280 heads of male indigenous draught cattle released for beef. Each cattle were randomly measured for carcass and noncarcass components. Body weight was recorded as animals arrived. Hot carcasses were weighed and cold carcasses were estimated at 0.98 of the hot carcass weight. Dressing proportions were calculated from the ratio of hot carcass weight to slaughter weight. Descriptive statistics for carcass yield, edible and offal components were analyzed by SPSS. The average slaughter weight, hot carcass weight, dressing and shrinkage percentage recorded in this study was 247.93+5.27, 90.98+ 2.11, 36.98+0.94 and 0.74+0.02, respectively. The amount of total deboned lean meat was 60.38kg (24.35% of the slaughter body weight). The price of live animals and the amount of carcass and other edible parts attained from it, is not worthy of comparison and there was a loss of 402.66+ 0.29 Birr per each cattle. Therefore, draught cattle released for beef after draught power should be fattened either by farmers or beef farm to recover their body weight loss due to agricultural work load.Keywords: Carcass; Drought cattle; External offal; Internal orga

Determinants of Trade Credit Use by Private Traders in Ethiopia: Case of Mekelle City, Tigray Regional State

This study aims to investigate the determinants of trade credit use by taking 198 samples of private traders in Mekelle city, Tigray regional state of Ethiopia. Semi-structured questionnaire and interview were used to collect data and binary logistic regression model was used to examine significant factors determining trade credit use. The result highlighted that trade credit was widely practiced among private traders in Mekelle city. It has been found that about 58 percent of sample traders that are found in Mekelle city were trade credit users and about 42 percent of them were non-users. The result of binary logistic regression model shows that from owner factors, gender and education of traders significantly determined trade credit use. Similarly, business specific factors such as age of the business, length of trade relation, frequency and volume of purchase were found significant variables in determining trade credit use. Therefore, private traders and concerned government offices that are concerned with the promotion of trade and private sector development need to take these factors into consideration in order to enhance trade credit use by private traders. Key Words: Binary Logistic Regression, Determinants, Ethiopia, Private Traders, Trade Credi

Robust Decentralized Control of Power Systems: A Matrix Inequalities Approach

This dissertation presents an extension of robust decentralized control design techniques for power systems, with special emphasis on design problems that can be expressed as minimizing a linear objective function under linear matrix inequality (LMI) in tandem with nonlinear matrix inequality (NMI) constraints. These types of robust decentralized control design problems are generally nonconvex optimizations, and are proven to be computationally challenging. Therefore, this dissertation proposes alternative computational schemes using: i) bordered-block diagonal (BBD) decomposition algorithm for designing LMI based robust decentralized static output feedback controllers, ii) sequential LMI programming method for designing robust decentralized dynamic output feedback controllers, and, iii) generalized parameter continuation method involving matrix inequalities for designing reduced-order decentralized dynamic output feedback controllers. First, this dissertation considers the problem of designing robust decentralized static output feedback controllers for power systems that guarantee connective stability despite the presence of uncertainties among the interconnected subsystems. The design problem is then solved using BBD decomposition algorithm that clusters the state, input and output structural information for the direct computation of the appropriate gain matrices. Moreover, the approach is flexible enough to allow the inclusion of additional design constraints such as the size of the gain matrices and the degree of robust stability while at the same time maximizing the tolerable upper bounds on the class of perturbations. Second, this research considers the problem of designing a robust decentralized fixed-order dynamic output feedback controller for power systems that is formulated as a nonconvex optimization problem involving LMIs coupled through bilinear matrix equation. In the design, the robust connective stability of the overall system is guaranteed while the upper bounds of the uncertainties arising from the interconnection of the subsystems as well as nonlinearities within each subsystem are maximized. The (sub)-optimal robust decentralized dynamic output feedback control design problem is then solved using sequential LMI programming method. Moreover, the local convergence property of this algorithm has shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach for designing (sub)-optimal robust decentralized dynamic output feedback controllers for power systems. Third, this dissertation considers the problem of designing a robust decentralized structure-constrained dynamic output feedback controller design for power systems using LMI-based optimization approach. The problem of designing a decentralized structure-constrained H2/Hinf controller is first reformulated as an extension of a static output feedback controller design problem for the extended system. The resulting nonconvex optimization problem which involves bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) is then solved using the sequentially LMI programming method. Finally, the research considers the problem of designing reduced-order decentralized Hinf controllers for power systems. Initially a fictitious centralized Hinf robust controller, which is typically high-order controller, is designed to guarantee the robust stability of the overall system against unstructured and norm bounded uncertainties. Then the problem of designing a reduced-order decentralized controller is reformulated as an embedded parameter continuation problem that homotopically deforms from the centralized controller to the decentralized controller as the continuation parameter monotonically varies. The design problem, which guarantees the same robustness condition of the centralized controller, is solved using a two-stage iterative matrix inequality optimization algorithm. Moreover, the approach is flexible enough to allow designing different combinations of reduced-order controllers between the different input/output channels. The effectiveness of these proposed approaches are demonstrated by designing realistic power system stabilizers (PSSs) for power system, notably so-called reduced-order robust PSSs that are linear and use minimum local-feedback information. Moreover, the nonlinear simulation results have confirmed the robustness of the system for all envisaged operating conditions and disturbances. The proposed approaches offer a practical tool for engineers, besides designing reduced-order PSSs, to re-tune PSS parameters for improving the dynamic performance of the overall system

Determinants of Rural Women Economic Empowerment in Agricultural Activities: Evidence from Nunu Kumba District of East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia

This study was aimed at investigating the determinants of rural women economic empowerment in agricultural activities of Nunu Kumba district of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The study can be useful to reduce women discrimination, ministry of child and women’s affairs in its effort to formulate and implement gender policies. A multistage sampling procedure was used to take sample of 342 women household respondents using random sampling technique from selected rural Kebeles. For the study both primary and secondary sources of data were conducted. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and logistic regression model. Descriptive analysis was conducted to discuss the behavior of rural women economic empowerment in agricultural activities and performed using frequencies, percentage, means, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values. The logistic regression result reveals that out of thirteen explanatory variables eleven variables age, size of family, educational status, farm income, off-farm income, access to credit, access to and control of economic resources, access to information, rural women participation in community affairs, lack of gender awareness and domestic violence were statistically significant. The findings of the study recommended that the policy makers effectively implement the rights of the significant number of marginalized rural women for full participation in all levels of human activity. This will play a paramount role in eradicating poverty and hastening economic growth of Ethiopia

Improving Yield and Economic Benefits of Garlic (Allium sativum L.) Through Integrated Use of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Different Soil Types

Soil fertility depletion is among the major impediments to sustained crop productivity because of limited application of fertilizers in Ethiopia. Crops yield  can be enhanced through balanced application of inorganic and organic soil nutrients. Thus, field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of  chicken manure (CM) with reduced levels of inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers on garlic growth, yields and economic benefits at  Debrezeit Agricultural Research Centre on two soil types (Andosols and Vertisols) in 2013/14 cropping season. The treatments consisted of factorial  combinations of three levels each N (0, 46, 92 kgha-1), P (0, 20, 40 kgha-1) and CM (0, 10, 20 tha-1); which were laid out in randomized complete block  design with three replications at each site. The analysis result showed that there was a significant main effect of N, P, CM and soil type on the evaluated  growth and yield traits in the experiments. Effect of the manure on growth and yield of garlic bulb were significantly higher on both soils than the mineral  NP fertilizers but the highest bulb yield of garlic was recorded from Vertisols than from Andosols. The applied fertilizers interacted and  significantly influenced the yield attributes of garlic on both soils. The highest bulb yield was obtained with the application of 46 kg N ha-1, 40 kg P ha-1  and 20 t CM ha-1 on Andosols and with the application of 46 kg N ha-1, 20 kg P ha-1 and 20 t CM ha-1 combination on Vertisols. There was a yield  advantage of 110% and 139% due to these two combinations over the lowest yield obtained from the control plot on Andosols and Vertisols, respectively.  Application of fertilizers at the combination rates of 46 kg N ha-1, 20 kg P ha-1 and 20 t CM ha-1 significantly improved bulb yield by 57% on Vertisols than  the yield produced on Andosols. Moreover, the mean bulb yield produced on Vertisols was higher by 21% compared to that of Andosols. In addition,  the higher economic yield and marginal rate of return was obtained by the application of 10 t CM ha-1 along with 46 kg N ha-1 and 20 kg P ha-1  on Andosols. Thus, application of 10/20 tha-1 CM saved the recommended levels of N and P fertilizers by 50%, without reducing the bulb yield and  economic benefits of garlic.&nbsp

Chemical Composition, In vitro Digestibility and Drying Rate of Sugarcane Tops Using Different Curing Methods

አህፅሮትየሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ በአገራችን በስኳር ፋብሪካዎች አከባቢና እና በአነስተኛ ሸንኮራ አገዳ አምራች ገበሬዎች ዘንድ የሚገኝ የእንስሳት መኖ ሀብት ነው፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ በሀገራችን እስካሁን የመኖ ጠቃሜታውን ለማሻሻልና በአያያዝ ጉድለት የሚመጣውን ብክነት ለመቀነስ የተካሄደ ጥናት በስፋት የለም። የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማም የርጥብ ሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍን ድርቆሽ በማዘጋጀት ሳይበላሽ ለረጅም ጊዜ ለማቆየት እንዲቻል ጥራቱን በተለያዩ የድርቆሽ አዘገጃጀት ዘዴዎች መፈተሽ ነው። ይህም በሳት የተቃጠለና (የተለበለበ) ያልተቃጠለ (ያልተለበለበ) የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍን ሳይከረታተፍና ተከረታትፎ በፀሀይና በጥላ ሥር በማድረቅ ዘዴ የሚዘጋጀውን ድርቆሽ የንጥረ-ነገር ይዘት፣ የመፈጨት ደረጃውንና ለመድረቅ የሚፈጀውን ጊዜ ለመገምገም ነበር። የእያንዳንዱን አሰራር ዘዴ አምስት ጊዜ በመደጋገምና በተለያዩ ጊዜያት ናሙናዎች በመውሰድ አማካይ የድርቀት መጠናቸዉ 85 በመቶ ሲቃረብ በማቆም የናሙናዎች ኬየሚካለዊ ትንተና ተካሂደዋል። በተለበለቡና ባልተለበለቡ የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ መነሻ ናሙናዎች (fresh/original sugarcane tops) መካከል ያለው የመኖ ንጥረ-ነገር ይዘት ልዩነት የጎላ አልነበረም። ተከርትፈዉ በፀሀይ የደረቁት የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ናሙናዎች ሦስት ቀናት ባልበለጠ ጊዜ የደረቁ ሲሆን፤ በአንፃሩ ያልተከረተፉት ናሙናዎች ለመድረቅ ከ45 እስከ 68 ቀናት ወስዶባቸዋል። በማድረቂያ ዘዴዎችና በሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ዓይነቶች መለየት ምክንያት በሚንራል(ash)፣ በቃጫ (NDF, ADL)፣በሟሚ ካርቦኃይድሬቶች (NFC)፣ በኃይል ሰጪ (ME)፣ በፎስፈረስ ይዘትና በተፈጭነት ደረጃ (digestibility) ልዩነት ማየት ተችሏል። የማድረቂያ ዘዴዎቹ መለያየት ከናሙናዎቹ ድርቀት(DM) እና ፕሮቲን ይዘት ዉጪ በሌሎች ንጥረ-ነገሮች ይዘቶች ላይ ልዩነት አልነበራቸዉም። በሌላ በኩል በፀሀይ የደረቀ ያልተከረተፈ-የተቃጠለ የሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ድርቆሽ የቃጫ(NDF) ይዘት አነስተኛና በፀሀይ ከደረቀው ያልተከረተፈ-ያልተቃጠለ ናሙና ልዩነት የለውም። በአንፃሩ የተከረተፉና በፀሐይ የደረቁ ናሙናዎች ሳይከረተፉ ከደረቁት ናሙናዎች በሟሚ ካርቦሀይድሬት፣ በቅባትና በሄማይሴሉለስ-ቃጫ ይዘት ከፍተኛ ሆነው በADF-ቃጫ ይዘት በእጅጉ ያነሱ ናቸዉ። በአጠቃላይ ከሸንኮራ አገዳ ጫፍ ድርቆሽ ለማዘጋጀት መከርተፍና በፀሀይ ማድረቅ የሚወስደዉን ጊዜ በእጅጉ ይቀንሳል፣ ብልሽትንና የንጥረ-ነገር ብክነትን በመቀነስ የመኖ ጠቀሜታውን ያጎላል። AbstractThis study was conducted to evaluate effects of different drying methods on chemical composition, in vitro digestibility and drying rate of sugarcane tops (SCT). Treatments were set in factorial arrangement (2 SCT types (green and burnt) x 3 drying methods (shed and sun drying of intact SCT and sun drying of chopped SCT) in a completely randomized design. Each treatment was replicated 5 times and samples were dried at a swath density of 4 kg/m2. Dry matter (DM) of samples was determined at time interval until the treatment average approached the safest content (≈ 85% DM) for storage. Fresh (samples at harvesting) and dried samples were chemically analyzed. The fresh burnt SCT had slightly higher DM, ash, EE, ADL, Ca, P, IVDMD, IVOMD and ME contents, but had lower CP and NFC contents than the fresh green SCT. The chopped burnt and green SCT dried at a rate of 19.8 and 20.7% per day, respectively. Rate of drying was highest in the 1st week for all drying methods, then after decreased progressively. The lowest dehydration rate (0.92 and 0.99% per day), or longest drying time (68 and 60 days) was attained by shed dried intact green and burnt SCT, respectively. There were significant interaction effects (P<0.05) of drying methods and SCT types on ash, NDF, ADL, IVDMD, IVOMD, ME, NFC and P contents. Except for DM and CP, the drying methods had varied (P<0.0001) effect on nutrient content of SCT. The NDF content of burnt SCT was lower (P<0.05) for intact sun dried samples compared to other drying methods, but values for the green SCT did not vary (P>0.05) among the drying methods. However, ADF contents of sun- and shed dried intact SCT were not different (P>0.05), but were higher (P>0.05) than that of chopped sun-dried SCT. The sun-dried chopped SCT had higher (P<0.05) ether extract (EE) and hemicelluloses contents. However, sun-dried chopped green SCT had lower NDF and ADL than sun-dried chopped burnt SCT, but were similar (P>0.05) in DM, OM digestibility and ME contents. The NFC content was inversely related to the fiber fraction, being lower (P<0.05) for sun-dried chopped burnt SCT and shed-dried intact burnt SCT. The under shed dried intact green SCT had higher NFC content than sun dried chopped green SCT (P<0.05). In conclusion, the drying methods used in this study had variable effect on chemical composition, although lacks consistency in the trend. Chopping SCT clearly increases drying rate, shorten drying period and conserve nutrients that has been reflected in better in vitro digestibility and ME.