Abstract: Biogas is an alternative renewable energy sources and a mixture of different gases, mainly methane and carbon dioxide, resulting from anaerobic digestion of organic matter. In this study, production of biogas from Vernonia amygdalina leaves co-digested with cow dung in anaerobic condition were evaluated under mesophilic condition at 38ºC using a batch mode digester. Biogas production was evaluated from treatments with different mix ratios A (100%VA) B (75%VA+25%CD), C (75%CD+25%VA...
Abstract: Biogas is a well-established fuel that can replace firewood and electricity as an energy source for cooking, lighting, heating and for other purposes in developing countries. Moreover, biogas is a clean, environmental friendly and renewable form of energy generated when micro-organisms degrade organic materials in the absence of oxygen. The aim of this study was to evaluate biogas production potential of avocado fruit peel wastes and goat manure in combination or separately under a...
Abstract: Production of biogas through anaerobic digestion of organic waste materials provides an alternative environmentally eco-friendly renewable energy. In this study, biogas production from co-digestion of cow manure (CM) and Datura stramonium leaves (DSL) in five mix ratios (100%CM, 60%CM:40%DSL, 50%CM:50%DSL, 40%CM:60%DSL and 100%DSL) were evaluated under mesophilic condition at 38ºC using a batch mode digester over 30 days fermentation. In all the treatments, physico-chemical parame...
Abstract: Common beans are grown throughout Ethiopia and an increasingly important commodity in the cropping systems of smallholder producers both for food security and income. However, its production is affected by climate change particularly by intensive drought occurrence. The study of genetic variability under moisture stress areas enables selection of drought tolerant genotypes that would give better yields to ensure food security, especially for poor rural farmers. Therefore, this stud...
Abstract: Malawi’s economy is solely agricultural driven, yet the soils are continuously depleted of major nutrients threatening economic development, food and nutrition security. Besides poor agricultural practices, climate change is one of the major factors exacerbating soil and nutrient degradation in sub-Saharan Africa. Use of blanket fertilizer recommendations to nourish the depleted soils is worsening the situation as it often not matches with the requirement of the soil and maize, t...
Abstract: Rain water harvesting has been practiced for many years and has positively impacted life, agriculture and economy. Despite its known benefit, the adoption of rainwater harvesting is slow in the Mohamud Haybe district, and water scarcity remains a major constraint to life and economic development in the district. This study was conducted to assess rain water harvesting technologies (RWHT) and determinants that affect the adoption of rain water harvesting in Mohamoud Haybe district, ...
Abstract: Potato is the most important vegetable crop in developing countries. Potato cultivation is a labour intensive work. Human labor is still the main source of power used in agricultural works in Ethiopia. Thus, in manual method of planting there is high wastage of human energy, time and effort. This study was initiated to design, manufacture, test and performance evaluation of a prototype tractor mounted potato planter. The prototype planter consisted of main frame, hopper, casing, fu...
Abstract: Warqe/enset processing is carried out dominantly by rural women using traditional tools such as bamboo scraper, serrated wooden tool and metal knife where losses in quality and quantity are exceptionally high. Above all, the traditional way of warqe/enset processing causes to much physically drudgery among the rural women. In an effort to alleviate the problem, an engine driven warqe/enset decorticating machine was designed, constructed, tested and evaluated. The performance evalua...
Abstract: For most Ethiopian rural households, food insecurity has been the most critical concern. Small-scale irrigation is among the first measures in increasing vegetable production, diversifying household assets and income, and improving household food security. This study measured the impact of small-scale irrigation use on household vegetable production and food security using outcome indicators of household food consumption score, household dietary diversity score and yield of onion. ...
Abstract: Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in Fogera Plain. Despite its potential and production in Ethiopia, its productivity varies from year to year and over locations due to seasonal and intra-seasonal climate variability and household characteristics. The objectives of this study were to identify rice farm typologies, drivers of rice yield, climate change, and adaptation strategies to analyze climate variability and trend changes, and to assess dry spell management practic...
Abstract: The significance of spice technology in enhancing production and productivity can be realized when yield increasing technologies are extensively used and diffused.This research addresses the case of improved turmeric variety that has been intensively promoted in major producing area to enhance the level and degree of technology use among smallholder farmers.Hence,in this study, an attempt was made to examine factors affecting adoption and intensityof use of improved turmeric variet...
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate determinant factors of renting-in threshing machine and the impact of machine renting-in service on reduction of threshing cost of the household. To address the objectives the study used cross-sectional data collected from 180 machine users and non-users households in Haramaya district. Sample size of respondent from each selected two kebeles was determined using probability proportional to size sampling technique. The sample f...
Abstract: Ethiopian economy is highly dependent on agriculture, especially crop production takes the major share in economic growth. Hence, supporting the sector through introducing new agricultural technologies, like row planting technology is crucial. However, application of better technologies remained low in Ethiopia and also in the study area due to several factors. Therefore, study was to assess the status of adoption decision of wheat row planting technology and identify factors affec...
Abstract: Tef is the major crop grown in Ethiopia and the study area. However, its productivity is low mainly due to limited use of improved varieties and low soil fertility as result of intensive soil erosion and long history of cultivation. Therefore ,a field experiment was carried out on a farmer’s field at Gelan Akaki district during the 2018 main cropping season (from July to November 2018) to assess the response of tef varieties to blended NPSB fertilizer rates and to identify the ec...
Abstract: This research is aimed at developing a Setswana grammar checker for Setswana declarative sentences using Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent neural networks (LSTM-RNNs). The research was motivated by the fact that Setswana is recognized as one of the under-resourced languages in the world and the language lacks Natural language processing (NLP) tools such as grammar checkers; this delays the language’s technological progress. A Setswana grammar checker is a pre-requisite to th...