African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (2), pp. 001-009, February, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Input Demand Response Analysis of Wine Grape Farmers in Dodoma City and Chamwino District in Dodoma Region, Tanzania: Application of the Profit Function

^*Natalia N. Kalimang`asi¹  Aida C. Isinika² and Gaspar P. Mwembezi³

¹Local government training Institute (LGTI), P. O. Box 1125, Dodoma, Tanzania.

²School of Agricultural Economics and Business Studies, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3007, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania.

³Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), P. O. Box 138, Dodoma, Tanzania. 

Accepted 03 January, 2021

 Abstract

The study analysed factor demand response of smallholder wine grape farmers. Maximum Likelihood Method was used to estimate profit function while Ordinary Least Square was used to estimate demand function. A multistage and random sampling method was used to obtain 176 farmers under irrigation and 183 farmers under rain fed production. A cross-sectional data was used. Results indicate that estimated short run factor demand responses for labour, manure and agrochemicals were price inelastic, implying that in a short run farmer`s input demand does not quickly adjust to changes in their own input prices. Results also reveal that two pairs of inputs i.e., agrochemical and manure as well as labour and manure had a complementary relationship, while labour and agrochemical had a substitute relationship. It is therefore recommended that any policy measures targeting on reducing fertilizer, labour and agrochemical price would improve grape productivity and hence increase farmer`s income. It is also important to strengthen farmer`s knowledge and skills on agrochemical and manure application for wine grape farming because these inputs have a joint effect on improving wine grape productivity and profit among farmers.

Keywords: Wine grape, profit function, factor demand response, price elasticities.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (2), pp. 001-004, February, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of response of Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) Landraces to drought stress

Leili Motamedi-Mirhosseini¹, Ghasem Mohammadi-Nejad², Alireza Bahraminejad³, Pooran Golkar⁴* and Zahra Mohammadinejad⁵

¹Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University - Jiroft branch,Jiroft-Iran.

²Horticultural Research Institute, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman P.O.B. 76169-133, Iran.

³Crop Science Department, Agricultural Faculty, University Putra Malaysia, P.O. B. 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

⁴Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, P.O. B. 76169-133, Iran.

⁵Plant Breeding, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Accepted 4 October, 2020

Abstract

Cumin (CUMINUM CYMINUM L.) is a herbaceous and medicinal crop which is one of the most important export crops for countries such as Iran. This study was conducted to study the effects of drought stress on agronomic traits in cumin landraces of Iran. This experiment was conducted in simple lattice design, with two replications in drought stress and non-stress conditions. Nine land races (49 sub landraces) from different origins of Iran were studies in this experiment. The characteristics such as number of umbels per plant, number of seed per umbels, number of seeds per plant, dry matter weight, 1000- seed weight and seed yield were evaluated. The results showed that drought stress significantly influenced some studied traits. There were significant differences among land races for number of seeds per plant and seed yield (P<0.05). The landraces of Yazd, Southern-Khorasan and Pars had the highest seed yield among evaluated landraces. Also these cumin landraces could be proposed for cultivation in arid regions with hot climate. It seems that in drought stress condition number of seeds per plant was the greatest factor that is affected by drought stress. This result could be proposed that cumin is a drought tolerance crop.

Key words: Cumin, drought stress, seed, yield.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (1), pp. 001-011, January, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Screening rice genotypes for drought resistance in Egypt

A. A. Abd Allah*, M. H. Ammar and A. T. Badawi

Rice Research and Training Center, Field Crop Research Institute, ARC, Egypt.

Accepted 20 November, 2020

Abstract

A series of experiments were conducted under normal and drought conditions to examine the magnitude of yield response of diverse genotypes to drought stress and to identify traits that may confer drought resistance. Thirty-three local and exotic rice entries including 18 Egyptian genotypes (selected from Fn generation of the breeding for drought tolerance program, Rice Research and Training Center, Egypt), six Italian and nine Chinese rice varieties were grown at Rice Research and Training Center experimental farm for evaluation under normal as well as drought conditions during 2007 and 2008 rice growing seasons. Experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits studied. Many promising lines were found to be tolerant against drought stress at different growth stages i.e. seedling stage, early and late vegetative stage, panicle initiation stage and heading stage. These lines possess useful traits associated with drought tolerance such as early maturity (drought escape mechanism), medium tillering ability, medium plant height, root depth, root thickness, root volume, dry root: shoot ratio, plasticity in leaf rolling and unrolling (drought avoidance mechanism), in addition to crop water use efficiency and water application efficiency. The results showed that the genotypes viz. Giza 178, Giza 182, GZ5121, GZ 6296-12-1-2-1-1, GZ 8310-7-3-2-1, GZ 8367-11-8-3-2, GZ 8372-5-3-2-1, GZ 8375-2-1-2-1, GZ 8450-19-6-5-3, GZ 8452-7-6-5-2, GZ 1368-S-4, Augusto and SIS R215 were the best entries under drought conditions, where they possess many desirable traits which are useful for drought tolerance. Among the traits studied viz. number of tillers per plant, number of panicles per plant, 100 grain weight, panicle weight, revealed significant genotypic correlation with grain yield. Also, number of filled grains per panicle depicted the highest direct contribution of 0.630 and it also show highest indirect contribution of 0.867 followed by 100 grain weight (0.850) towards grain yield. Path coefficient analysis demonstrated that number of panicles per plant, 100 grain weight; number of filled grains per panicle, panicle weight should be improved in order to increase grain yield under both normal and drought conditions.

Key words: Drought stress, path analysis, rice, screening.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Participatory selection and characterization of quality protein maize (QPM) varieties in Savanna agro-ecological region of DR-Congo

K. Mbuya^1,2, K. K. Nkongolo⁴*, A. Kalonji-Mbuyi^1,3 and R. Kizungu^1,2

¹University of Kinshasa, B.P 117 Kinshasa 11, RD–Congo.

²Institut National pour l’ Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques (INERA), B.P. 2037, Kinshasa 1, RD-, Congo.

³Nuclear Research Center, Kinshasa, RD-Congo.

⁴Department of Biological Sciences, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Accepted 20 October, 2020

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major cereal crop for human nutrition in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR- Congo). Prevailing normal maize is deficient in two essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan. Participatory variety selection was applied to select diversified quality protein maize (QPM) varieties that possess farmers’ preferred plant and grain traits. The varieties were planted with and without chemical fertilization. Selection was based primarily on agronomic traits such as time to maturity, plant and ear aspect, disease and insect resistance, yield and yield components as well as flour quality. There were significant differences among QPM varieties for several agronomic traits. The use of participatory approach in agricultural research allowed selection of one QPM, (QPMSRSYNTH), and one normal improved maize (AK9331-DMR-ESR-Y) for their yield advantage over currently released normal maize varieties in more than one criterion. The adoption of these newly introduced varieties is expected to be high since they were selected based on farmer’s preference.

Key words: Quality protein maize, participatory varietal selection, DR-Congo.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effects of the economic performance of farmers of the risks encountered in the production of organic cotton, and risk management strategies

Hakan Adanacioglu* and F. Akin Olgun

Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics, 35100, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey.

Accepted 12 November, 2020

Abstract

This study has importance in terms of determination of risks and risk management strategies that affect the economic performance of farmers who produce organic cotton. With this aim, Turkey, a major organic cotton producer, was investigated as a case study. In the study, the most important sources of risk affecting economic performance of farmers were determined as variability in yield, high production costs and low price premiums. These were followed by the difficulties in production, climate conditions, and institutional uncertainty. Management of production, marketing and capital, conformity to regulations, sharing of information, and crop variety are the strategies developed for management of these risk sources, respectively. The strategies developed by the farmers towards risk sources will not be enough alone. The strategies developed by the farmers must be supported both by the government and NGOs.

Key words: Organic cotton, organic farming, risk, risk management, risk strategies.

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN 2375-0693 Vol. 9 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2021. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Spinning performance of ELS Egyptian cotton

El-sayed A. M. Mohamed*, Suzan .H. Sanad and Abeer .S. Arafa

Cotton Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center- Giza- Egypt.

Accepted 19 July, 2020

Abstract 

In the fall of 2005, the pilot spinning mill at cotton research institute “CRI”, began making spinning investigations, researches and developments R and D beside the experimental spinning mill which conducts the spinning-test routine. It is possible to orient the textile industry in Egypt to make proper use of Egyptian ELS cotton lint for the production of fine yarns and high quality ready made garments. The cotton samples contained approximately 100 kg of ginned lint, in order to perform both fiber and spinning tests. Cottons from 5 different ELS varieties and promising crosses identified as 2 categories, were selected for this study, the first group represented the extra-long extra- fine category that is, Giza 45, Giza 87 and new promising cross G.77 X Pima. The second group represented the extra long staple category that is, Giza 88 and new promising cross G. 84(G.74XG.68). The fiber properties were tested in textile technology center, Trützschler GmbH and Co. KG, Mönchengladbach, Germany. The results showed that AFIS and HVI fiber properties can be used for the prediction of yarn properties successfully. Whilst the results were quite satisfactory, it was necessary to ascertain that the results were paralleled elsewhere, especially industrial scale. These checks, made by spinning duplicated samples at Pilot spinning mill, cotton research institute and in Misr Iran spinning and weaving company. The relative order of yarn characteristics were the same at the count level.

Key words: Egyptian cotton, fiber and yarn quality, fine yarn counts.