Browsing by Author "Ndungu, J."
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Item Economic Analysis of Post-Harvest Losses in Sweet potato marketing in Rachuonyo District - Kenya(2013) Gichangi, A.W.; Wamuyu, J.G.; Macharia, N.; Ndungu, J.; Karanja, L.; Malinga, J.; Lelgut, D.K.The major problems in agrarian economy include post-harvest losses during handling, transportation, storage and distribution. Many studies have attempted to estimate the post harvest losses at various stages of marketing of agricultural produce, most of the studies have not separated the loss component during handling at different stages of marketing. Such losses are often included as a separate item in the marketing margins, costs and price-spread. Multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of study area and the sampling units. Rachuonyo district was positively selected for the study, as it is the major sweetpotato growing district for var. Nyathiodiewo. In the second stage, the Kisumu rural district was selected for losses estimation at farm level. Consumers in the major cities of Kenya positively selected the variety for this study for being the most preferred variety. The data were obtained from the survey of sample producers of sweetpotato and various market intermediaries through personal interview with the help of pre-tested and structured schedules. The data collected from the farmer respondents included general information about the cultivation of sweetpotato, methods of harvesting, cleaning and sorting, collection point, mode of packaging, storage system, mode of transportation and losses during post-harvest operations. A separate schedule was developed and used for eliciting information from market intermediaries who deal in sweetpotato roots. This included information on quantity purchased, mode of transport, storage, and purchase and quantity marketed. Results indicated that about 65-75 % of sweetpotato was marketed through wholesale channel and farmer group channel. The post-harvest losses were as high as 30 % in the wholesale channel; comprising 6 % at the field and assembly level, 7 % at the wholesale level and 17 % at the retail level. The losses in farmer group channel were higher in the first stage of handling. Rejection of substandard produce by the traders and consumers were the major reasons for most of the losses accrued by the farmer. The total marketing cost for all stages was higher in the wholesale charmel, which amounted to 4.2% compared to 0.57% in the farmer group channel.Marketing Cost has been identified major constraint in the wholesale channel and bringing down the costs particularly the commission charges as demonstrated in the farmer group channel,will help in reducing the prices spread and increasing the producers margin.It is appropriate to account for the marketing losses separately for precise estimation of margins and efficiencyItem How Is Organic Farming Performing Agronomically and Economically in Sub-Saharan Africa?(Elsevier Ltd, 2021-08-30) Schader, C.; Heidenreich, A.; Kadzere, I.; Egyir, I.; Muriuki, A.; Bandanaa, J.; Clottey, J.; Ndungu, J.; Grovermann, C.; Lazzarini, G.; Blockeel, J.; Borgemeister, C.; Muller, A.; Kabi, F.; Fiaboe, K.; Adamtey, N.; Huber, B.; Niggli, U.; Stolze, M.; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) ; University of Ghana ; Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) ; University of Bonn ; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) ; Makerere University ; International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) ; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)The potential of organic agriculture and agroecological approaches for improving food security in Africa is a controversial topic in global discussions. While there is a number of meta-analyses on the environmental, agronomic and financial performance of organic farming, most of the underlying data stems from on-station field trials from temperate regions. Data from sub-Sahara Africa in particular, as well as detailed real-farm data is scarce. How organic farming is implemented in sub-Saharan Africa and how it performs in a smallholder context remains poorly understood. We applied a novel observational two-factorial research design, which allowed to evaluate the impacts of i) interventions for introducing organic agriculture and ii) specific organic management practices on 1,645 farms from five case studies in Ghana and Kenya, which we closely monitored for 24 months. Among the farmers who have been exposed to the interventions, we found heterogeneous adoption of organic agriculture principles, depending on the intervention. Furthermore, we found rather passive than active organic management among farmers. Most yields and gross margins under organic management remained at similar levels as the conventional values in four of the case studies. In one case study, however, coffee, maize and macadamia nut yields increased by 127–308% and farm-level gross margins over all analysed crops by 292%. Pooling our data across all case studies, we found significantly higher (+144%) farm-level gross margins on organically managed farms than on conventional farms. This indicates the potential of organic and agroecological approaches if implemented well. Based on our observations, we argue for improving the implementation of organic agriculture projects in settings with smallholder farmers. Limited capacities, lack of appropriate inputs and market access are major agronomic and institutional challenges to be addressed. Furthermore, we argue for supporting a differentiated debate about which types of organic farming are really desirable by classifying approaches to organic farming according to i) their intention to work organically and ii) the degree of following the organic principles. This will support the design and implementation of targeted policy interventions for stimulating sustainability of farming systems and rural development.Item Pathogenicity of bloodstream and cerebrospinal fluid forms of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in Swiss White Mice(2008) Ndungu, K.; Ngotho, M.; Kinyua, J.; Kagira, J.; Guya, S.; Ndungu, J.; Murilla, G.; Kenya Trypanosomiasis Research InstituteTrypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (T.b.r.), the causative agent of the East African form of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), is capable of crossing the blood brain barrier and invade the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is not clear whether bloodstream forms (BSF) of T.b.rhodesiense differ in biological characteristics from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) forms. The present study was carried out to compare the pathogenicity of CSF and BSF of T.b. rhodesiense parasites in Swiss white mice following intraperitoneal inoculation with 106 trypanosomes. The parasites were tested for presence of the serum resistance associated (SRA) gene. Parasitaemia, body weight, packed cell volume (PCV) and survival of the mice was monitored daily until the experiment was terminated. Data was analyzed using general linear model. Both forms of parasite were positive for the SRA gene, and there was no significant difference in progression of parasitaemia, PCV values or survival of the mice. However, the weights of BSF infected mice initially dropped faster than those of CSF infected mice (P<0.001). Key words: Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, bloodstream and CSF forms, pathogenicity, and mice.
