Canadian Journal of Agriculture and Crops

Determinants of marketed quantities of potato in tete province of Mozambique

2023-07-14T00:38:57-05:00

In Mozambique 88% of the area allocated to potato production comes from Tete province, mainly on the districts of Angonia and Tsangano, and no studies have evaluated the determinants of the marketed quantities of this food crop, in this region. Hence, this study addressed this knowledge gap. The study used primary data. The primary data were obtained in February 2021 through the administration of the structured questionnaires to 453 smallholder potato farmers in Angónia and Tsangano districts. Descriptive statistics and a quantile regression model were the tools applied to analyze data. Results showed that the area allocated to potato production, cost of fertilizer per hectare, and cost of hired labour per hectare were significant at 1% confidence interval with volume sales of potatoes at all three levels of median studied. These are indications that an increase in any of these variables would increase the productivity of potatoes and hence the quantities available for market. Some of the constraints reported by the potato farmers were incidence of pests and diseases (100%), lack of credit access (100%), lack of certified seed (100%), lack of collective action on setting price (100%), inadequate storage materials (100%), poor road quality to access markets (79%), lack of funds to hire labour (36.2%), low level of extension services (36.9%), inadequate price information (17.9%) and inadequate fertilizer application (2%). To increase potatoes productivity, condition to increase marketed quantities, certified seeds, fertilizers and good storage materials should be made available to potato farmers.

Chickens feed resources and feeding trends in Konso Zone and Derashe special district, Southern Ethiopia

2023-10-22T23:42:21-05:00

The study was conducted to assess locally available chicken feed resources and feeding trends in the Karat zuria district of the Konso zone and Derashe special district. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used and a total of 120 respondent farmers from the districts who possess chicken production were involved. The data were collected by questionnaire, personal observation, and interviews. Potential cereals: sorghum (95.0±0.22% and 86.7±0.34%), teff (65±0.48% and 66.7±0.48%) from pulses haricot bean (58.3±0.50% and 45.0±0.50%); as vegetables Moringa stenopetala locally: Halako (96.7±0.18 and 91.7±0.28) in Karat zuria and Derashe special districts, respectively were identified as commonly locally promising human food as well as chicken feeds. Cooked food scraps (Fosase, Kurkufa); kitchen wastes, and protein sources (growing worms, termites, insects, grasshoppers, flies) local brewery residues (Cheka residues) were highly ranked as potential scavengeable feed resources (SFR) in both districts. However, January to May is the major month of the year severity of feed shortage (90% of respondents) mostly occurred. About 2/3 of farmers spreading the grain on the bare ground together for the whole groups of chicken once per day mainly for egg yield (41.67% of respondents) in the area was a very common trend of providing supplementary feed. Consequently, efforts have to be made to design and implement interventions, aiming at improving chicken feed resource base and feeding trends.

Effect of foliar application of micronutrients and urea on mungbean varieties

2023-11-30T00:12:38-06:00

Experiment was carried out to at the Agronomy field of Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU). The treatments comprised of four variety and three fertilizer including control. Varieties were V₁= BINA Mung-8, V₂=BARI mung-2, V₃=BARI mung-5 and V₄=BARI mung-6 and treatments were T₀ = control, T₁ =micro nutrient, T₂= micronutrient and urea. The experiment was laid-out in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The maximum plant height was found at BARI mung-6 (29.7). Maximum nodule number was found at BARI mung-6 variety (5.90). The number of effective nodule was highest at BARI mung-6 variety (2.36). In case of no of seed per pod and 1000-seed weight, BARI mung-6 variety gave highest value and those were 11.25 and 70.5 g respectively. Maximum plant height, nodule number, number of effective nodule and number of pod per plant were found at T₂ treatment. The pod length, seed per pod and 1000-seed; T₂ treatment gave the highest value and those were 5.5 cm, 11.25 and 65.64 g respectively. In case of plant height, chlorophyll content, number of nodule, number of effective nodule, pod per plant, pod length, pod weight/m², seed per pod and 1000-seed weight, combined effecr of BARI mung-6 x micronutrient and urea (T₂) gave highest value and those were (29.95, 47.5, 6.17, 2.40, 6.20, 6.20, 76.75, 11.20) cm and 68.45 g respectively. This result revealed that mungbean variety BARI mung-6 and T₂treatment performed best in combination (V₄T₂).