Category Archives: Agriculture

They analyse the spatial distribution of poverty by constructing maps at territorial level

Although specific individuals may receive income from all these sources, that is not a matter of concern for the functional approach. The theory attempts to explain the income of a factor of production by the contribution that this factor makes to production assuming that supply and demand curves determine the unit prices of each productive factor. When these unit prices are multiplied by quantities employed on the assumption of efficient factor utilization, then a measure of the total payment to each factor is obtained. For example, the supply of and demand for labour are assumed to determine its market wage. When this wage is multiplied by the total level of employment, a measure of total wage payments, also sometimes called the total wage bill, is obtained. It is a neat and logical theory in that each and every factor gets paid only in accordance with what it contributes to national output, no more and no less. This model of income distribution is at the core of the Lewis theory of modern-sector growth based on the reinvestment of rising capitalist profits . Unfortunately, the relevance of the functional theory is greatly diminished by its failure to take into account the important role and influence of nonmarket forces such as power in determining these factor prices .

In general, mobile grow system new approaches are emerging to make the results of income inequality analysis more meaningful. Park et al. for example, have proposed a new framework for measuring income inequality based on the unequally distributed incomes that are obtained by removing the equally distributed parts from incomes. They then derive the normalized norm indexes from the cumulative distribution function and the un-scaled Lorenz curve of the UD incomes.Using the example of income distributions and the Luxembourg Income Study datasets, Park et al. show that, the normalized norm indexes evaluated income inequality appropriately and solved the negative income problem.Else where in the Mediterranean countries, Benedetti et al.  provide point and variance estimates of two widely used income-poverty indicators, belonging to the class of the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke , and two widely used income in equality indicators. Their estimation results revealed that national poverty indicators hide a high heterogeneity of poverty across regions within each country. They adopted the Jackknife replication method because of its convenient properties and they found that the uncertainty measure was influenced by the reduced number of sampling units in each region.

It should be noted here that, the FGT class is preferred by some researchers for having certain ad vantages, including its simple structure based on powers of normalized shortfalls, which facilitate communication with policymakers . Its axiomatic properties are also viewed as sound and include the helpful properties of additive decomposability and subgroup consistency, which allow poverty to be evaluated across population subgroups in a coherent way . We constructed a conceptual framework which shows that income in equality and poverty in mountain areas, is a result of an array of both internal and external factors. These factors vary depending on the nature and source of inequality, such as,mobile vertical rack inequality in earnings of the working population, inequality in earnings of the total population, as well as, household income inequality before and after redistribution, just to mention a few.

Our framework shows that the nature and level of income inequality is determined by four major characteristics or forces namely; the household personal characteristics ; farming characteristics ;economic characteristics ; and existing transforming structures and processes . Macro-economic characteristics impact income inequality through economic growth as well as, globalisation and technological change . Just as important,age and dependency ratios can strongly impact labour supply and therefore earnings from labour. Demographic factors can impact income redistribution which in turn can affect demographic characteristics: for example, low income distribution can lead to the formation of extended families as an alternative protection to poverty risks . In the mountain areas context, we view income inequality as socially undesirable for three major reasons.

Fish farmers originate from the area  more often than stakeholders

These classes corresponded to a perception centered, in most cases, on one service category  considered crucial for the individuals belonging to this class and, occasionally, on the combination of two or more categories. An examination of all classes shows numerous recurrences. In order to simplify the analysis, the results were standardized by grouping similar classes and creating archetypes. These archetypes include all of the observed classes. It is interesting to contrast productive approaches at one extreme with territorial approaches at the other . In Brazil, fish-farmers spontaneously placed great importance on provisioning services whereas stakeholders showed awareness of the diverse roles played by ponds  and emphasized the importance of the heritage role. As in the case of France, the use of ranking gave different results with the recognition of a wider diversity of service categories. In addition to fish production,the services most frequently mentioned were pollution control, phytoplankton production, and the role of water regulation . It should be noted that most ponds in this part of Brazil were built by the government to combat drought,hydroponic bucket following the series of severe droughts in the 1990s.

The differences observed between spontaneous perceptions and ranking  show that using a pre-established list in the ranking process has a suggestive effect on respondents. They then judge some services which had not previously occurred to them to be important. In other words, ranking-based closed questions raise awareness of some services, in particular those involving a greater territorial dimension. This is understandable in that, a priori, such services are outside the realm of the traditional knowledge and practices of fish farmers and stakeholders. This result is common to both Brazil and France even though provisioning services are more important in Brazil in the case of spontaneous perceptions.The demonstration of these differences confirms, as was suggested in our literature review, the importance of the questionnaire design during the perception characterization phase. Following Kaplowitz and Hoehn , we suggest that the two types of approach be combined in order to develop an exhaustive list of services that makes sense for the actors. When survey constraints prevent this combination, the choice will depend on needs. If it is important to have the wide strange of services recognized by actors, ranking is to be preferred. If the objective is to identify the services that are integrated into the local culture and fully appropriated by actors, open questions with spontaneous answers are a better choice. However,stackable planters in terms of support to decision-making, combining the two types of questions enables the identification of services that are not spontaneously perceived and will require awareness-raising and information actions.

The analysis of the differences tends to show the impact of information and knowledge on perceptions. The presentation of an exhaustive list of services in itself gives new information to interviewees. Furthermore, interviews themselves may generate information. Indeed, awareness-raising as interviewers is often required to explain some services during the process. The fact that interviewees become aware of the importance of some environmental or heritage services during the ranking process confirms both the role of training and that of the knowledge of ecological perceptions on perceptions and pro-environmental behavior.It is noteworthy that perceptions which do not include a provisioning service are more common with stakeholders who generally have a higher level of education than fish farmers .

This relationship with education is often mentioned in the case of farmers with respect to pro-environmental behavior in general and more particularly in relation to ecosystem services . However,better knowledge may also be generated empirically due to a greater familiarity with ponds. Several forms of knowledge can be distinguished. They depend on proximity, use, experience, or education. Apart from their education level, the origins of fish farmers and stakeholders may also explain the differences observed between them due to their differing degrees of familiarity with ponds and the services that they provide.Moreover, not only do stakeholders have greater education, but also come from very different backgrounds, and have more diverse interests relating to territorial development and public policies.This set of factors confirms the importance of perception surveys.

This is where community-based coral farming and reef rehabilitation efforts become critical to improve no-take MPA success

Community-based participation in this project, in direct collaboration with academic resources, continued being fundamental for the success of the Community-Based Coral Aquaculture and Reef Rehabilitation Program since 2003 . Community-based participation and project engagement was critical in five ways: 1) It was important to strengthen community-based participants theoretical, technical, and hands-on training and education in coral farming, and reef conservation and restoration methods in support to the management of the local MPA; 2)Strengthen the existing community-based emergency rapid response team capable of rapidly providing technical assistance to local government institutions on emergency reef restoration efforts ; 3) Improved the preventive management and maintenance of coral farming units by trained community-based volunteers to reduce impacts from storm swell generated damage to near zero in both, coral farming units and out planted colonies. Regular maintenance was also important to maintain the structural integrity of farming units and to reduce impacts from potential competing taxa and to remove coral predators ; This project further confirmed our decadal-long experience that community-based participation and engagement is a critically successful behavior-transforming outreach and educational tool;Strengthening and empowering base communities to improve their problem analysis and decision-making tools regarding managing their adjacent shallow coral reef ecosystems that constitute their first line of defense against storm swells and sea levelrise.

Nonetheless,ebb flow tray reciprocal feedback from government institutions was lacking most of the time, providing very limited support, in particular, a very weak enforcement of existing no-fishing regulations within the no-take MPA. There was also no enforcement at all regarding LBSP, deforestation of adjacent lands, and the implementation of mandatory erosion and sedimentation control measures. Weak governance and natural resource management failures have been previously identified as key roadblocks to the successful conservation of coastal resources in Puerto Rico . Weak governance can be a major roadblock to MPA, coral farming and reefre habilitation success, and deserves major attention. A particular concern has also been the recent burst in dubious political decisions favoring zoning changes and private development in highly sensitive areas on very steep slopes prone to erosion and in lands adjacent to the shoreline through fast-tracked permits, which halt public scrutiny. Fast-tracked permitting procedures often lack full evaluation of environmental impacts and have resulted in non-sustainable development practices with strong adverse impacts in small tropical islands .

Project timing and phasing on funding agencies is often never coupled with the appropriate environmental conditions needed for successful coral propagation. It is critical that coral farming projects start during cooler months  and this must be stressed out to funding and regulatory agencies when planning funding and reporting cycles for such projects. Coral transplanting during summer or fall should be avoided to reduce or prevent coral mortality and the probability of failure due to high SST stress, runoff impacts, or potential disease outbreaks. Most coral species are also completing their gametogenesis cycle during the warmer months,which require strong energy expenditure and may further compromise their survival if fragmenting and transplanting is conducted before mass spawning occurs. No-take MPAs are often established to protect and help recover reef fish stocks, as well as to restore herbivorous fish guilds, flood and drain tray from fishing impacts . Increased herb ivory can reduce algal cover inside MPAs  and has been shown to be important for recovering coral reef ecosystem resilience by fostering increased coral growth . But it has been suggested that the Wider Caribbean Region has a higher vulnerability to climate change impacts due to its lower resilience, faster rates of macroalgal growth, higher rates of algal recruitment,basin-wide iron-enrichment of algal growth from aeolian dust, lack of Acroporid corals, lower herbivore biomass and missing groups of herbivores, in comparison to Indo-Pacific coral reefs . Lack of coral and fish functional redundancy of Caribbean reefs can also increase its long-term vulnerability to climate change and ocean acidification impacts .

A similar explanation for LUCC in semi arid areas of Tanzania has been documented by for sub humid zone

Various reasons have been proposed for observed changes but yet more studies are still needed since factors for change are sometime spatially determined. For example there are limited reports which show that long term climate change may result to land use cover change due to changes in rainfall patterns and rise in temperature favouring other land uses to emerge with consequences on community livelihoods . On the other hand, made an attempt to link the impact of various environmental factors including climate change and land use and findings showed that the link is some-how indirect which suggests further investigation. On the other hand, in Tanzania a study by has revealed that there has been an increase in cultivated land due to population increase and investment in agriculture sector. In addition, a study by  found the root causes of the land use and cover changes that have taken place on the southern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro are many and multi-faced. They include demographic factors, colonial and post-independence government policies, institutional factors, legislation, as well as socio-cultural, economic and environmental factors.

Further more studies by William revealed that liberalized economic relations, such as free trade agreements and economic globalization change people’s relations to the physical environment hence induce changes in LU. The intensity and scale of land use change has increased drastically in re-cent decades, partly due to expansion of farmlands, ebb and flow table settlements and climate stresses that force agro-pastoral communities to search for virgin pastures and croplands. Basing on these trends, land use cover change and degradation of the natural resources such as land, water, forests, woodlands, grasslands and wildlife in Tanzania have been common in various ecosystems in particularly slopes of Kilimanjaro ; Usangu basin and slopes of Mount Rungwe in the volcanic region and thus exposing rural communities to vulnerable ecosystems . Although many studies have been able to establish changing land use cover types at a wide scale in various agro ecological systems. Very few of them have been able to isolate various biophysical and social factors that have contributed to such changes and where the changes observed have positive impacts. The overall aim of this study was to assess and analyse different land use cover types over the last 2 decades in two agro ecological zones of Tanzania characterised by semi humid and semi arid conditions. The study also made an at- tempt to isolate both biophysical and social factors that have played a significant role in causing land use cover change.

To discuss environmental factors that have contributed to land use cover change in case study zones one should consider both driving forces and the process it self. Various scholars have suggested that poverty, changes in policies and strategies are among the key driving forces to land use cover change . Findings showed that in all four case study villages three major wealth groups namely the rich, middle and poor groups are common and their distribution at village level ranged on average in the order of 10%, 30% and 60% for the rich, flood table the middle and the poor respectively. It was clearly noted that the majority of people are poor and most of them live under poverty and this has contributed to degradation or natural resources contributing to LUCC. It was also clearly revealed that changes and introduction of new polices in the country contributed to LUCC changes for example the introduction of villagilization policy in Tan-zania in mid 1970’s whereby people were clustered in villages called “Ujamaa” or “live close together” contributed to deforestation in new areas where they moved into for settlement and opening of new farms.Environmental change in particular changing rainfall pattern and other rain related factors are shown in Figure 3 for semi arid zone were found to have contributed directly or indirectly to LUCC. Similar observations were also reported for sub humid zone where by 81% of the total respondents indicated so. However 19% of responded were not able to clearly the pattern and trend of rainfall some perceiving that it has increased. This observation is not surprising and it could be explained in terms of existing spatial variability of rain which is common in such areas. Increasing temperature was also among factors mentioned during FGD that has contributed to LUCC in both sub humid and semi arid zones.

The fur-breeding industry is considered an important economic sector of Western Macedonia

Western Macedonia together with China is currently the two largest fur production centers in the world. This was essentially the driving force for pioneers,creative and adventurous furriers to set up their own fur farms initially with mink, fox, and ferrets  to secure their own source of raw materials.It is perhaps the main lever of development in the region and one of the last solutions to its widespread unemployment. It is an alternative occupation proposal for the rural population of the area to raise additional income.In addition, it is noteworthy that the supply and payment of skins is guaranteed, since the sales are made through auctions abroad and are to international customers. In a relatively recent study by the Hellenic Statistical Authority, fur products occupied 12th place among the 15 most important Greek exportable products. In the EU, there are an estimated 6500 fur farms which employ 106,000 full-time workers and 108,000 part-time workers. The value of furs from farms in the EUis in the region of 625 million euros .

The production of furs is a complex and multi-member process which necessitates a main breeding unit, feed mills,blueberry grow pot transport companies, specialized auction houses, veterinarians, and seasonal workers. This network becomes truly international at the stage where the fur is sold through the mode of raw materials auctions . A large number of workers in other livestock activities supplement their income from the fur farming sector, thus, this sector contributes to the survival of rural communities. Moreover, thanks to the breeding of fur-bearing animals, animal husbandry in general remains an economically viable activity in areas where climatic conditions limit farmers’ choices regarding what they can produce and promote profitably in the market . From the early 1980s until 2000, a number of fur farms were set up mainly farming mink, foxes and to a lesser degree chinchilla, but only 10 of them survived.This was attributed principally to the lack of experience of the breeders, a lack of state care, a lack of proper food supply and the turmoil in the fur and furclothing market.Efforts to increase domestic fur production in the 1990s were aimed at modernizing and verticalizing fur treatment plants , locally, nationally and internationally, which are elements that still exist today.

Notably, while other similar industries have not withstood local and international crises, local fur production has proved to be highly resilient and has not been affected by similar situations.This is accredited largely to its human resources in the region which is its main competitive advantage. The accumulated experience and local specialized knowhow transferred formally and informally through the generations is considered the key feature of the success of the industry and the dynamics of its local development.In recent years, there has been an increase in the breeding of fur-bearing animals in the Region of Western Macedonia, mainly in the prefectures of Kastoria and Kozani, while some units also operate in the prefectures of Grevena and Florina .The above number of farms, hydroponic bucket as shown in Figure 1, does not remain constant from year to year. Nor is the distribution in the four prefectures the same. Meanwhile,Figure 2 depicts the evolution of fur production over time as well as the trend for the same period. It can be seen that the trend equation shows an upward tendency in production with a significant exponent as a function of time .

All the factors that potentially affect the activity of businesses and industries can be considered in terms of the external and internal environment. The external environment includes society, the economy, and politics, is subject to constant change and creates significant uncertainties for the course of the industry,while analysis of the internal environment of the industry aims to enable strategy planners to formulate an effective strategy.The fur-breeding sector in the Region of Western Macedonia is a unique and peculiar livestock activity not only for the region but also for the whole of Greece.Its particularities pertain to the production process and the end product as well as its market forces.Animals are kept in special facilities in cages throughout their life. The product emerges once a year from productive animals at the end of their life and is not intended for human consumption but for clothing.

Feeding crop residues when they are unprocessed or untreated limits their intake

Maize stover was scored highest in abundance in first season, reduces slightly in second season then attains peak abundance in third season and reduces progressively in fourth season throughout the zone. The abundance levels of sweet potato vines were scored highest in first season reduces in second season, increases progressively to attain its peak abundance in third season, in fourth season it moves down then starts increasing again towards the end of the season. It was noted that most frequently utilized crop residues are highest in abundance in third season and lowest in fourth season. Maize stovers were highest in abundance in Jinja district in first season, while the rest of the districts hit their peak abundance in third season. Ground nuts haulms were moderately abundant in fourth season in Jinja district while in the rest of the districts it was lowest in fourth season. Crop residues are fibrous parts of crops that remain after those edible to human beings have been removed.

Through their digestive adaptations, hydroponic nft channel primarily based on the degradation of fibrous materials by microbes in the rumen , ruminant animals have the unique capacity to utilize these otherwise useless by-products. This indicates that in dairy cattle feeding system, crop residues can replace roughages in rations, reducing the competition on cereals between human beings, monogastic and ruminant animals. Crop residues are readily available in LVZ, cheap feed resource because the grain which is the main marketable product takes care of the production costs.The major crop residues available in the study areas were established as maize stover, sweet potato vines,sugar cane tops, ground nuts haulms and banana peels. Maize stover was ranked a major crop residue available and utilizable in smallholder dairy farming system in LVZ of Uganda, the study area. It was also established that with increased crop failures due to prolonged drought, as has become more frequent even in the LVZ large acreages of maize crops would be available for conversion into feed for smallholder dairy farms. Uganda currently ranks with the highest potential of maize production for export among the countries in the East, Centra land Southern African region where maize is the staple food .

If this potential is exploited, the massive quantities of maize stover generated will be a major feed resource for smallholder dairy farmers. Furthermore, rankings of spatial and temporal variability of crop residues indicate that first season  was the main harvest period, which explained the abundance of the crop residues in second season .This is in line with studies by  who noted that variations in availability of crop residues as major factors constraining their utilization. Furthermore, suggesting that interventions to enhance utilization of crop residues in LVZ should prioritize maize stover. However, its nutritive value is low,nft growing system research should be directed towards enhancing its crude protein content, improving its digestibility and reduction on its crude fibre.While there are prospects to improve the nutritive value of crop residues in LVZ through supplementation,simple treatment, processing and preservation methods, maize stover and sweet potato vain were fed without much attention to improve their nutritive values. The only method undertaken by number of respondents was physical processing .

Integrating crop residues with forage legumes improves rumen microbial degradation of crop residues by supplying nitrogen to the rumen microbes which increases digestibility and intake of poor quality feed.Nitrogen supplementation in the rumen environment deficient of nitrogen leads to increased dry matter digestibility and voluntary feed intake . Furthermore,feeding small amounts of naturally occurring high protein supplement such as brewers spent grain also improves the nutritive value of crop residues . Biological treatment of maize stover utilizing mushroom fungi through fermentation, is another alternative to convert maize straw into high nutritive value dairy cattle feed .Maintaining access to sufficient quality and quantity of nutrition is vital for milk production in the dairy cattle. Although crop residues are important feed resources they are low in nutritive value  and poor storage methods  practiced by farmers predisposes them to rain and sunlight resulting into further deterioration in quality .

Becoming the taste of real food will be the best spirit to promote food farmers’ education

Sixteen questions about the willingness of the industry to operate food and farming education, including values, emotional components, and action intentions, are three significant aspects—thirteen obstacle factors, including external factors and internal factors. Then the questionnaire’s content, according to the reference scholars’ revisions of the characteristics of leisure farms by scholar Tuan , the business willingness by scholar Archibard , scholar Bartram and Joshua , scholar Woodside and Lysonski, and the operational obstacles by scholar Tuan , scholar Zheng, and based on the opinions of experts and scholars revised. Use Likert’s five-point scale.Based on the survey of the Taiwan Leisure Agriculture Society in 2007, the number of 1244 farms registered as leisure farms was used as the matrix. Based on the research time and research funding constraints, the convenience sampling principle is adopted.According to the confidence level is 95%, and the margin of error is 0.05. to measure a sample of consumer population in this research using Slovin formula. to the research results,flood table it is found that there are differences in the willingness of different leisure farm operators in the education and management of food farmers.

It can be seen that the willingness of food farmers to operate education will be affected by the size of the farmland, the number of years of establishment of the farm, the number of farm employees, and the annual operating income. Food and farming education is an experimental education process that emphasizes “hand-made”. Through experience, it teaches people to re-establish the relationship between people, food, and land, to understand the importance of food and agriculture, and to make the right choices for the diet. Therefore, the larger the scale of the land, the longer the farm is established, the more farm employees and the annual operating income, the compound leisure farm operators will have more resources to cooperate in food and farming education. The higher the willingness, there is a clear difference in the behavior image of the food farmers’ educational willingness, which shows that the leisure farmer agrees on the management willingness and has the responsibility to do this business after deciding the food farmers’ education goals. In other words, the leisure farm operator is an essential part of the promotion of food agriculture education.Leisure farm operators believe that although they have the will to operate food and farming education, they cannot fully develop it. Most business operators operate food and farming education because they have a high connection with the current season’s crop, and the relationship between food and agricultural production.

Secondly, leisure farm operators have differences in the obstacles to the education and management of food farmers. It can be seen that the obstacles to the education and management of food farmers will be affected by the size of the farmland, the number of years of establishment of the farm,rolling benches the number of employees on the farm, and the annual operating income. Including external government regulations, the environmental aspects of the internal leisure farm itself,lack workforce, and low level of professional training.Besides, leisure farm operators have a significant correlation between the willingness of food farmers’ education management and the obstacles to management.In other words, business obstacles will affect the willingness of leisure farm operators to operate education for food farmers.Because of the above, leisure farm operators agree that they will have the responsibility to do this business well after deciding on the food farmers’ education goals. Today’s Taiwan’s eating habits are full of exquisite and refined foods,but they are not necessarily real foods; we have eaten many additives, which maybe more tasteful, but in fact, they are the source of many civilization diseases, Is the biggest threat to people’s health. Therefore, used food and farming education to have eight characteristics of personal production, local consumption,agricultural food, whole food utilization, family eating, first sensory experience,cultural heritage, and diversity, emphasizing the local production of agricultural products sports.

Rainfall variability has a lot of adverse effects on livelihoods

This study is a theoretical approach in solving an industry related problem in Nigeria. The study set up the following objectives to achieve its main goal of using pig to tackle some environmental challenges in our community. These are: 1) Design a mathematical model to address population growth; 2) Set carrying capacity for the pig pen; (3)Propose policies that would assist pig farmers to support environmental waste management body. Saying that the growth and development of any nation depends largely to an extent on the development of the primary industry, of which agriculture is a key player. Unlike traditional development economists such as Arthur Lewis who believed that agriculture plays a passive and supportive role, modern development economists have come to realize that the agricultural sector in particular and the rural economy in general must play an indispensable part in any overall strategy of economic progress, especially in developing countries. More significantly,majority of the world’s poor live in the rural areas and depends upon agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture is therefore critical for poverty reduction,hydroponic bucket economic development and environmental management.

The agricultural sector continues to play a crucial role for development, especially in low-income countries where the sector is large both in terms of aggregate income and total labour force (Ehigiamusoe and Uyi, 2012 ; Agbugba and Binaebi,2018 ). Climate influences human activities on the earth’s surface including agriculture. This affects mainly agriculture and therefore lowering income of rain dependent farmers making them vulnerable. Many people across the world are vulnerable to rainfall variability due to their high dependence on the agricultural sector especially rain-fed farming .Livelihood vulnerability is determined by three main contributing factors:exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Exposure refers to the presence of property, systems, people or other elements in hazard places that are subjected to potential losses. Exposure to rainfall variability is brought about by unfavourable characteristics in rainfall onset, cessation, amount, duration or number of rainy days and within-season dry spell in a given rainfall season. Sensitivity is the degree to which people, property or a given system is affected by effects of a given risk . This is mainly determined by socio-economic characteristics of such people or system exposed to the risk. Adaptive capacity is people’s or a system’s ability to adjust to prevailing extreme events created by risk they are exposed to.Vulner ability assessment is determined by the conceptual framework chosen by a researcher and the specific risks to be measured . It has been guided by different disciplines such as disaster management (including climate change),anthropology/sociology and economics.

Vulnerability arises from exposure of hazard on existing livelihood options of communities and the subsequent response by the communities . When farming communities are exposed to a given risk, stackable planters their vulnerability will depend on subsequent responses they will engage in. The IPCC framework is based on integrated approach. It conceptualizes vulnerability as an integrated measure of the expected magnitude of adverse impacts resulting from a given level of external stressors . It considers both external(exposure) and internal (sensitivity and adaptive capacity) dimensions to vulnerability.In Africa, arable land use trends show that tillage fluctuates significantly in response to rainfall changes making rain-fed farming communities vulnerable. Rainfall variability, among other factors, is projected to lead to decrease in agricultural production in Africa up to 50% by the year 2050 . This is an indication that vulnerability to rainfall variability of households in this area is increasing as majority depend on rain-fed agriculture.About 80% of Kenya is located in arid and semi-arid land characterized by high rainfall variability in terms of onset, cessation, amount, duration and distribution. Despite agriculture being a key sector in the economic development of the country, it is mainly rain-fed and therefore vulnerable to rainfall variability.Kitui County was ranked the 12th poorest among the counties of Kenya in the 2015/2016 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey report . About 50% of the population lives below poverty line which is far much above the national figure of 36.1% .

Agricultural information disseminated by different information sources needs to be determined

Therefore, the characteristics of good information sources are relevance,timeliness, accuracy, accessibility, cost effectiveness, reliability, usability, exhaustiveness and aggregation levels (Feather & Sturges, 2003). Oladele (1999) stresses that the efficiency of technologies generated and disseminated depend on effective communication which is the key process of information dissemination.Therefore, it is expected that the message from the client should be passed back to the source or researchers for the communication process to be complete.Despite the attempts at technological innovation transfer, the wide gap between the levels of production which research contends is attainable and that which farmers achieve, suggests a missing link (Oladele, 1999). What is more, weak linkages between the farmer, extension workers and researchers mean that farmers are not included in the planning of the innovation, hence they do not know where to get information despite the fact that they are the end users.It is imperative therefore to identify the sources of agricultural information.

Opara (2008) investigated the overall sources of agricultural information available to farmers in Imo State (Nigeria), hydroponic channel as well as the farmers’ preferred sources. The study revealed that 88.1% of the farmers’ source of agricultural information was through extension agents. Similarly, Ozowa (2008) shows that among all the existing channels of communication, Nigerian farmers ranked extension workers the highest in providing credible information and advice. The investigation was carried out on small farmers in Imo state, Nigeria.Mokotjo & Kalusopa (2010) found out that print sources are among the sources of information to farmers in Lesotho. Their study revealed that though most of the farmers have acquired primary education, the agricultural information delivered to them is written in local languages. This enables them to utilize the information effectively. It also demonstrates the high literacy level in Lesotho and according to the literacy rate in Africa, Lesotho occupies the seventh position with a literacy rate of 84.80% (Aneki, 2012) . However, only 13% out of61.7% of the farmers in Lesotho are of the view that prints media is one of the appropriate technologies to disseminate information. However, Lwoga, Stilwell& Ngulube (2011)  significantly differ from Mokotjo & Kalusopa (2010). For them, print materials have low usage due to their unavailability and illiteracy levels of most of the farmers in Tanzania.Mass media also provides support for the growing involvement of farmers/producers and their organizations in the information dissemination arena.

The rapid development of information technologies has profoundly changed the media landscape in African countries. Information and Communication Technology(ICT) is a term that combines computer and telecommunications technology in handling, acquiring, processing, storing and disseminating information(Chauhan, 2009; and Malhan, 2007)  . Information and Communication Technology is a general or an all-inclusive term that embraces all those technologies that are employed in collecting, storing, organizing and communicating information in various forms (Chisita, 2010) . ICT can become a keyenabler of the agricultural-food sector by making dynamic and real time global level exchange of data. As stated by Rao (2009: p. 492) , “Effective deployment of ICT can lead to increase in agricultural competitiveness through cuts in production and transaction costs, raising production efficiencies and farm incomes,hydroponic dutch buckets conserving natural resources, and by providing more information, choice and value to stakeholders”. In using ICT successfully to support farmers and rural communities, the first step is to empower farming communities to define their own needs (Ballantyne, 2009: p. 356) . With wider access to and use of ICT, the potentials of opening up of communication as well as sharing information would be enhanced so as to assist farmers, researchers, extension workers and policy makers. It will also narrow the information gap that exists between farmers and the researchers because there will be a feedback (Ballantyne, 2009).Similarly, Renwick (2010) , pointed out that most of the small island nations are above the 100% or with some over 200% mobile phone penetration mark.This implies that many people had more than one cell phone and over 100% of the farmers used cell phones to receive agricultural information.

The overall brood stock mortality rates after extrusion can exceed 50% in neotropical freshwater species

The present study aims to compare results obtained through traditional spawning with those obtained through natural spawning for five neotropical species of commercial importance. After the second hormone dose, males and females were grouped in (2:1) ratios, except for L. macrocephalus, which was maintained at a ratio of (1:1) in 1000-liter tanks. The tanks were partially covered to prevent fish stress. The fish were under constant observation to evaluate behavior and note the spawning time. Spawning al- ways occurred after two or three fish maintained a synchronized swimming and their bodies became close and laterally aligned. In the P. lineatus and L. macrocephalus species, the emission of sounds by males during spawning was observed. After spawning, the eggs were re- moved with a plastic bucket that had a mesh retention of 0.5 mm to concentrate the eggs. This bucket was in- stalled at the outlet of the water tank, and the eggs were taken to the incubator. During transfer, a 500-mL beaker was used to measure the eggs by decanting the eggs into the beaker and measuring the volume marked.

The number of eggs per milliliter was determined by collecting four 3-mL samples of fully hydrated eggs from the bucket retainer using a 10-mL pipette; the samples were then counted on a petri plate . This counting was con- ducted for each spawning. After the last hormonal application, fish were continuously removed once the females begin to release the oocytes. The female was removed carefully using a towel. The extrusion was performed by collecting oocytes in a dry plastic becker. In the sequence, the sperm, which were also obtained by extrusion, was added directly over the freshly collected oocytes. After 1 to 2 minutes of mixing the gametes, water was added to promote the activation of sperm and fertilization. Once the eggs began to hydrate, they were transferred to incubators ac- cording to the recommendations of Ihering and Azevedo . A small quantity of oocytes (± 0.5 g) was removed before mixing with semen; these oocytes were weighed and fixed in 4% buffered formaldehyde solution for later quantification. During reproduction,nft hydroponic the water temperature remained between 24.0°C and 27.5°C, the pH be- tween 6.5 and 8.2 and the dissolved oxygen between 5.6 and 9.8 mg/L.Among the spawning induction techniques used for neotropical migratory fish, the use of extrusion is well documented , as it has been used to produce such commercially important neotropical species as dourado, S. brasiliensis; matrinxã, B. cephalus; tambaqui C. ma- cropomum and pacu, P. mesopotomicus.

This type of technique is widely used due to its low operational man- agement, high control of production and its status as a well-disseminated technique. Moreover, according to Bermudez, et al. , performing fertilization by extru- sion reduces egg handling, which is considered an im- portant factor in embryo development, reduces the chance of fungi appearance, increases the fertilization rate and increases the quality of future larvae. However, a disadvantage of extrusion is that it may increase the mortality rate of broodstock used, which is generally positively related to the species-specific degree of tolerance for handling. Females and males of Brycon siebenthalae show high mortality rates after induction . Catfish (Rhamdia quelen) and piauçu (L. macro- cephalus) commonly exhibit high mortality rates a few days after spawning by extrusion . For B. orbign- yanus, up to 100% broodstock mortality rates have been observed . In this study, we observed that in the four evaluated species survival rates of individuals increased with natural spawning. The survival percentage of spawning by extrusion was low, especially for B. orbignyanus, which exhibited more than 80% mortality of brood stock males and 100% of brood stock females. Survival after extrusion was related to species behaveior. L. macrocephalus presented most docile behavior in handling and had the highest survival rates after extrusion; the converse was observed for B. orbignyanus.