Agriculture

Flood discharge is one of important factors in designs and hydrological works. Because of non-facilities and non-hydrometric equipment in basins without statistics or with deficient statistics especially in small watersheds, estimation of maximum instantaneous flood discharge is one of main problems in watershed projects. In this stud with the aim of determination of acceptable method to estimate maximum instantaneous flood discharge in small watersheds, two methods one base to basin area and other based to physiographical feature and precipitation were studied. The results showed that among methods related to basin area, Horton method with residual sum of squares 2.8(RMSE=2.8) and among methods related to basin- physiographical feature and precipitation, curve number with RMSE=20.6 had least error .so, determined as the best methods. FHWA method because of having most amount of RMSE=5924.5 had the least efficiency for determination of peak discharge in this area.

Beekeeping is a very longstanding practice in the farming communities of the Tigray region and it plays a significant role as a source of additional cash income which is also an integral part in the smallholder farming system of the region. The overall objective of the study was to analyze honey marketing opportunities and challenges in the study area. A total of 135 beekeepers were proportionately and randomly selected from each study districts. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics using SPSS ver.16. According to the data analysis, the mean price of honey is birr 63.45 (September to November), 61.77 (December to February), 62.20 (March to May) and 59.69 (June to August) and most of the respondents (62.5%) sold their honey at district market while the rest sold at farm gate, kebelle market, other kebelles’/districts’ market and regional market. The honey marketing system of the study area has been reported to have faced with some challenging factors such as poor extension services related to honey marketing (96.6%), absence of local cooperatives that can activity participate in the honey marketing (89.8%), and limitation in participation of wholesalers and processors in the marketing system of honey are the main among the others. Despite these limitations, there are many opportunities for honey marketing in the study area; stable honey price, accesses to market information, access to nearby market and accesses to credit in relation to honey marketing, existence of good market infrastructure particularly, road and mobile networks, and presence of credit institutes such as Dedebit Credit and Saving Institution (DCSI) in the research location.

The cactus plant (Beles) grows profusely in Ethiopia and has adapted perfectly to the arid zones of the country characterized by droughty conditions, erratic rainfall, and poor soils subject to erosion. Cactus can be used for several purposes like sources of food, feed, as wind break, fence for crop and soil conservation for the people of the area. Although it is an important fruit and forage plant, there is no clear cut information about its current status, utilization, income contribution and marketing constraints in Bale Zone, South Eastern Ethiopia. To this end, the objective of this research was to assess the Current status, utilization, income contribution and marketing constraints of Cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) in selected districts of Bale Zone. In this study, three districts, namely, Sinana, Agarfa and Gasera were purposively selected based on their potential in cactus production and utilization. In addition, two kebeles from each district were selected purposefully based on their potential in cactus production. A total of 400 Cactus Grower and Non grower Households were selected to achieve the objectives of the study. Both qualitative and quantitative types of data were collected from sampled households. The quantitative type of data gathered from the respondents was analyzed using SPSS 20 versions whereas the data generated from group discussion and key informant interview were narrated and interpreted in the form of word. The descriptive result of the study indicated that Cactus feeding management includes the practices of cutting, scrubbing and chopping of young cladodes from branches of the stand for their animals and grazing. Regarding Cactus utilization in the study districts, farmers uses cactus pear for consumption (18.4%), live fence for crop field (13.7%), soil conservation (13.2%), and backyard live fence, (10.8%), for food security motive (9.9%), for forage (9.4%) and for wind break (8.5%) in the entire cactus growing areas of the study districts. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the respondents which accounts 61.3. % of the cactus growers reports they get unreasonable price from the sale of cactus due to lack access to potential market and low quality Cactus production, they obtained an average of 1007.9 Ethiopian Birr per annum. The study revealed that the income obtained from Cactus production was benefited 30.7% of farmers to cover their domestic consumables and purchase closes for their children. Also about 15.6% and 11.3% of the respondents were used the income obtained from the sale of cactus to cover costs of sending children to school and purchase improved crop varieties respectively. Regarding marketing constraints, the farmers indicated that Absence of Transportation facilities (20.3%), absence of market place (12.3%), low bargaining power (15.1%), perishability problem (17%), fluctuation of market price (9.4%) and availability of illegal brokers (14.2%) are the major problems they faces while selling their produce to the market. Regarding the income share of cactus grower and non grower Households it was found that the annual average income earned by cactus owner households were 13,910.6 birr whereas 12,371.3 birr for non cactus grower households with maximum earnings of up to Birr 30, 900 for non cactus grower and 35,960 for cactus grower households. Econometric result also reveals that the “average treatment effect on the treated” (ATT) for household income suggested, due to pure effect of cactus, the cactus owners obtain 1433.2049 birr of total income higher than non-owners; among which the mean difference of income between these two group is statistically significant at 5% probability level after matching. Considering the above mentioned fact, local government and other development partners should improve Access to market for cactus fruit so that farmers can get the best benefits from the cultivation of the crop.

The zone wise Sindh land resources analysis finds sufficient evidence that Sindh Southern Province of Pakistan is naturally divided in different zones and every zone offers excellent product potential of its own. The central cropping zone has been found suitable for crop cultivation and horticultural farms. The coastal and hilly areas are suitable for forest tourism and fishing. The arid zone boasts of great potential for live stock breeding and hunting grounds with range land forest. The policy makers neglected the absolute advantages of each and every zone during policy formulation since long. This paper tries to finds potential of livestock’s in Sindh, main problems in its development and feasible policy recommendations for further development of the sector and concludes that low level of feeding, traditional method of breeding, inadequate health facilities institutional mismanagements and low extent of markets and infrastructure are major obstacles in its development. The study also concludes that livestock sub sector naturally offer great potential particularly in arid zone and need policy maker’s immediate attention.

In recent time, there is increasing interest in diversified agricultural production systems to obtain higher yields per unit area through better use of natural resources, minimizing the incidence of insect pests and diseases, greater stability and crop insurance offered by intercropping systems. Field experiment was conducted during the rainy seasons of 2011 and 2012 at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Nasarawa State University, Keffi – Lafia Campus to study the effect of poultry manure and planting arrangement on the soil physico-chemical properties and yield of Sesame/groundnut mixture. The experiment consisted of four rates of poultry manure (0, 3.0, 6.0 and 9.0 t ha-1) and two planting arrangement (single alternate row and double alternate row planting arrangement). The eight treatment combinations were laid out in randomized complete block design with four replications. The results obtained showed that the soil physical structure was slightly improved; total N, available P and organic carbon of the experimental soil were increased by 20, 62 and 6% respectively after the experiment. Yield and yield characters of the two crops were significantly increased by the application of 6 t ha-1 of poultry manure and double row planting arrangement. Land equivalent ratio was greater than unity indicating that the intercropping system was advantageous.

Forward contracting can help reduce the problem of inputs supply risk which is inherent in Nigeria’s agriculture. This research work concentrated on the prospect of the strategy among crop farmers and agricultural input marketers. ‘The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents’ supported forward contracting of inputs and were willing to engage in the strategy. However, low capital base of enterprise, possible default by farmers and late payments are possible reasons why Agricultural input marketers may not be willing to go into a forward contract with crop farmers. The age of farmer, number of crop enterprises, years of experience, capital base of farmer and extension visits were significant factors influencing farmers’ willingness to engage in forward contracting of inputs. There is need to create more awareness about ‘forward contracts’ among agricultural input marketers and farmers in the country. Agricultural credit should be made affordable, available and accessible to input marketers by Micro Finance Banks and the Nigeria Agricultural Bank to improve their capital base. State and Local Government Authorities in collaboration with farmers’ cooperative societies should stand as guarantors for Farmers who are willing to engage in forward contracting.

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of varying plant population of two sorghum cultivars on growth and yield at three sites(Degain,Tendeli 8 and Tendeli 12) within the Gash delta Eastern Sudan , during 2014/15 and 2016/17) seasons. The RCBD design used for split-split plot trail. The treatments include two cultivars (Tabat andAklamoi) and three planting densities spacing within the row of 30, 45 and 60 cm between holes. Correlation analysis technique has been used for finding association between agronomic characters in the three sites. Generally the mean number of tillers, phonology, seeds/panicle, panicle length and 100-seed weight had positive strong significant correlation with plant height, and phonological attributes but they had moderate positive correlation with LAI, panicles/m2 and grain yield/ha. 100-Seed weight and panicle length were positively correlated with all characters except stem diameter, panicles/m2 and grain yield/ha. Likewise, LAI and number of tillers had significant and positive correlation with all characters. Grain yield per hectare was positively and significantly correlated with most of the studied traits. Results of analysis revealed significant and positive correlation among the variables and showed that these variables could play a vital role in increasing yield of sorghum hybrid.

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of varying plant population of two sorghum cultivars on growth and yield at research area Gash Delta Eastern Sudan, during 2014/15 and 2016/17) seasons. The RCBD design used for split-split plot trail. The treatments include two cultivars (Tabat andAklamoi) and three planting densities (spacing within the row of 30, 45 and 60 cm between holes and the number of seeds per hole factor with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 seeds per hole).The obtained results revealed that, the two tested sorghum cultivars particularly in the second seasons showed highly significant differences in stem girth, leave area index, panicle/m2, seeds /panicle, 100-seed weight and grain yield/ha. Aklamoi was better than Tabat in panicle/m2, 100-seed weight while, Tabat exceeded Aklamoi in stem girth, leaf area and grain yield particularly at plant population 208333 plant/ha which was achieved from 30cm inter-row spacing with five plants/hole in the first Season. The obtained grand mean of grain yield of Sorghum and the observations across the two experimental seasons indicate the high adaptability, the highest growth and the highest grain yield of Sorghum under the conditions of the Gash Delta. Early maturity of sorghum cultivars is more important to cultivate under shortage flooding seasons.

Chickpea grain damage in various forms, in which splitting is more important than other aspects, because of quantitative losses. This paper investigates the mechanical strength of chickpea kernels in relation to splitting. In this relation, three varieties (Bivanij, ILC482 and Philip 93-93) of chickpea at three levels of moisture content (15.5, 20.8 and 25.6 % wet bases) and three loading orientations (Length, Width and Thickness of kernel) were tested under quasi-static uni-axial compression. Measured and calculated parameters were including rupture force, maximum strain and deformation, rupture energy, maximum normal contact stress and apparent modulus of elasticity. Moisture content had a considerable effect on all mechanical parameters. In addition, the results showed that values of chickpea strength properties were lowest when loaded in the length direction. The minimum values of modulus of elasticity and rupture energy were equal to 6.75 MPa and 43.28 mJ, respectively, at 26%(w.b.). According to statistical results, Philip 93-93 variety had the highest resistance to damage and splitting in comparison to two other varieties. Several linear and nonlinear models were developed for prediction of chickpea strength parameters that presented in the article.

The study was carried out for determine the amount of input- output energy used and indices of energy and economic of fattening farms under different farm sizes in Qazvin city of Iran. For this purpose the data were collected from 30 fattening farms. The surveyed farms were classified into three groups of small (less than 50 heads), medium (50 to 150 heads) and large farms (more than 150 heads).The total average energy input of 24003 MJ calf -1 was required for fattening farm. The share of feed by 75% of the total energy inputs was the highest energy input. This was followed by fossil fuels (16%) and young calf (4%), respectively. The energy use efficiency, energy productivity, Specific energy, and net energy were found as 0.009 (kg MJ-1), 114.8 (MJ kg-1) and -20553(MJ calf-1), respectively. According to the study results, the contribution of indirect energy was higher than that of direct energy; also the share of renewable energy was more than that of non-renewable energy. Economic analysis showed that total average cost of production was 909.8 ($ calf-1). The benefit-cost ratio and productivity were 1.1 and 0.22 (kg $-1), respectively. The results showed that medium farms in terms of economic and energy indexes lower position than the small and large farms. So, they should change their scale to achieve higher efficiency.