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- ItemProtagonist (Crop Farmers and Cattle Herders) Perspectives of Crop Farmer-Herder Conflict and Sustainable Cattle Production in Ghana(KNUST, 2023-10) Yunus, Abdul AzizThe protagonist (crop farmers and cattle farmers) perspectives of crop farmer-herder conflict and sustainable cattle production in Ghana was investigated in two surveys and two animal experiments. The first survey study evaluated the root causes of farmer-herder conflict and proposed possible solutions. Sixty (60) crop farmers from six communities in Agogo traditional area and 140 cattle herders from four districts were selected using a multi-staged sampling technique to obtain a sample size of 200 respondents. Data were collected using 200 structured questionnaires consisting of both open ended and close ended questions. The selected farmers were interviewed and asked questions relating to the set objectives. Focus Group Discussion (FCD) were conducted to validate the findings from the quantitative result. Descriptive statistics, specifically, the mode, frequency counts and percentages were used to achieve research objective. Cross tabulation was also employed to establish the relationships between the variables. Results of the survey indicated that 83.6% of the respondent are very youthful and active indicating that both crop farmers and cattle herders wanted to show their strength whenever there is misunderstanding. Majority of the crop farmers (68.0%) and the cattle herders (66.6%) who had basic education preferred other method of responding to disturbances than retaliation and those with no formal education opted for similar trend than to retaliate. The results implies that educational attainment had no direct effect on the choices they made. The respondents agreed that crop damages by cattle (83.3%), land encroachment (75%), contamination of water (85%), killing of stray animals (66.7%), pasture poisoning (61.7%) and cattle rustling (63.3%) are among the possible causes of the conflict. Majority of the respondent agreed that community and religious leaders are best in resolving conflict between crop farmers and herders. They further agreed that ‘Operation Cowleg’ is not sustainable solution to the conflict. The study concluded with the recommendation that cattle farmers should be encouraged to acquire land to establish pastures for cattle and also frequent training workshop on pasture development and conservation for dry season feeding should be organized for them. The second survey was conducted due to the influx of cattle from the conflict areas into the urban and the peri-urban areas and inadequate pasture for the animals in some selected communities in the Ashanti Region. One hundred and five (105) respondents were selected in seven communities within two municipalities to assess their awareness and willingness to cultivate pasture using semi-structured questionnaire. Variables considered in the survey included demographic characteristics of respondents, farm operation, management system, feedstuffs availability and knowledge about improved pasture. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and frequency and percentage tables and bar charts were used to present the results. The results showed that majority (99%) of the farmers were males and are within the age bracket of 21 to 30 years. Grass, kitchen waste, cassava peels, crop residue, and agro-industrial byproducts are some of the usual feeds that farmers in the study area used in feeding cattle. The major challenge faced by the respondents was shortages of feed and lack of fodder conservation technique. Also, majority of the respondents (75.7%) were unaware of improved fodder and 92.4% never attended any training on fodder and pasture development even though 99% confirmed their readiness to go into pasture development when planting materials are made available. It was concluded that integration of pasture establishment and improved forage technology in farming system in addition to adequate training on fodder conservation and animal feeding trials can support farmers in different way. The first animal experiment assesses the effects of concentrate supplement on dry matter and water intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance of N’dama bull calves fed Napier grass basal diet. Four N’dama bull calves averagely six months of age and weighing 61.63 kg were used in a 10-week (70 days) experiment of which 14 days were used for adaptation period and 56 days for data collection. Calves were housed and cared for individually in a well-ventilated and roofed pen. The animals were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments in a 4×4 Latin Square Design consisting of Napier grass only for T1 (Nap0Conc), T2, Napier grass + concentrate fed at 1.5% of LW (Nap1.5Conc), T3, Napier grass + concentrate fed at 2.0% of LW (Nap2.0Conc) and T4, Napier grass + concentrate fed at 2.5% of LW (Nap2.5Conc). During the 14 days adaptation period, the animals were adapted to the experimental diets after which they were individually weighed and randomly assigned to the four dietary treatments. The Napier grass basal diet was harvested at 60 days of planting and chopped into 10 cm lengths and fed individually to the calves. The results showed a significant (P<0.05) difference in DM intake, DM digestibility and nitrogen balance with the exception of the average daily water intake (P>0.05). The total DM intake of the animals was 36.92 kg, 42.37 kg, 44.55 kg and 44.74 kg for Nap0Conc, Nap1.5Conc, Nap2.0Conc and Nap2.5Conc respectively. It was concluded that supplementation of a Napier grass basal diet with different levels of concentrates significantly improved dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen balance of N’dama bull calves compared with the control. In addition, supplemental concentrate did not influence the water intake of the animals. In the second animal experiment, N'dama bull calves fed a basal diet of Napier grass with concentrate supplement were evaluated for their feed intake and growth performance. In a twelve-week experiment, 16 N'dama bull calves weighing 99.06kg on average were assigned randomly to one of four dietary treatments based on their live weight in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) consisting of Napier grass only for T1 (Nap0Conc), T2, openly grazed + concentrate fed at 1.0% of LW (OG1.0Conc), T3, Napier grass + concentrate fed at 1.5% of LW (Nap1.5Conc) and T4, Napier grass + concentrate fed at 1.5% of LW (Nap2.0Conc). The results showed a significant (p<0.0001) difference in live weight gain (LWG) due to treatment effect. There were significant (p<0.0001) differences in average daily gain (ADG) between OG1.0Conc (272.32 g/d) and Nap0Conc (421.11 g/day) but no difference was observed in ADG between Nap1.5Conc (575.6 g/day) and Nap2.0Conc (562.8 g/day). There were significant (p<0.0001) differences in DM intake and average water intake between the treatment bull calves and the control group. Concentrate supplementation did not significantly affect the haematological parameters measured (p>0.05) except the WBC count and the total protein level (p<0.05). There were significant (p<0.0001) differences in total feed and water cost and the least cost was recorded in Nap0Conc (GHS 261.07) followed by OG1.0Conc (GHS 370), Nap1.5Conc (GHS 445.44) and the highest in Nap2.0Conc (GHS 495.12) respectively. This study recommends that smallholder Farmers and large-scale Farmers could include concentrate at 1.5% BW in the diets of bull calves for improved performance.
- ItemASSESSMENT OF TONO AND VEA RESERVOIRS FOR SUSTAINABLE NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus) CAGE AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN UPPER EAST REGION, GHANA(KNUST, 2019-06) AGBEKO. ETORNYOThe use of man-made aquatic ecosystems such as reservoirs and dugouts originally built for water supply, irrigation and fish farming is an emerging trend in most developing countries. Most reservoirs are being assessed for their potential for cage fish culture as a result of the high demand of fish. Northern Ghana has a number of reservoirs and dugouts which were originally constructed to conserve water for irrigated farming particularly the Tono and Vea reservoirs, however they seem to be under-utilized. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of cage aquaculture on the reservoirs by assessment of the water quality, suitable zones, carrying capacity (CC) and development of aquaculture management areas (AMAs) within two major reservoirs in Upper East Region (UER) namely; Tono and Vea reservoirs. These reservoirs were monitored using linear stratified sampling technique and monthly sampling of eighteen water quality variables between 06:00 to 10:00 for fifteen months (February 2015 to April 2016). Three replicates of samples were obtained for each variable from each stratum of the reservoir. Water temperature, water depth, transparency, pH and conductivity were measured in-situ using combined portable meters. Water sampling and laboratory analysis were based on standard analytical methods for examination of water and waste-water. Temporal and spatial dynamics of the reservoirs were investigated using multivariate statistical methods to obtain three seasonality regimes from the water quality with total variance in both reservoirs < 88.5%. Water quality in both reservoirs could support Nile tilapia culture (temperature between 26.730 ⁰C, dissolved oxygen > 5 mg l-1 , average water depth > 3 m but < 10 m, pH was slightly acidic to slightly alkaline). Geographical information system-based spatial multi-criteria analysis results indicate that 3.85 km2 (39.05% suitability) and 2.15 km2 (68.40% suitability) of reservoir area were suitable for the development of cage aquaculture in Tono and Vea reservoirs, respectively. Estimates of carrying capacity i.e. production, physical, ecological, and social were integrated to obtain the final aquaculture CC of 719.40 m-3 and 65.55 m-3 as production volume for Tono and Vea reservoirs, respectively. Results for trophic level index (TLI) indicate that Tono reservoir has very high nutrient enriched waters (TLI: 5.23; super trophic), whiles Vea reservoir has high nutrient enriched waters (TLI: 4.32; eutrophic). Based on the trophic status, percentage allocation of aquaculture CC and other secondary data; the three AMAs in Tono reservoir and the five AMAs in Vea reservoir could produce 107.91 and 9.83 metric tones of cultured Nile tilapia per production cycle respectively. The study postulate that the ecosystem approach to aquaculture could be pragmatic stepwise approach that has salient potential to deal with environmental, economic and social issues associated with cage culture in Tono and Vea reservoirs. Best management practices (BMPs), physical and biosecurity measures are needed to minimize aquatic animal health risk. The use of CC based suitable zones and identification of individual AMAs are recommended as useful for decision-making by fisheries and aquaculture regulators, managers of reservoirs and other aquaculture policy-makers for sustainable cage aquaculture in the two reservoirs.
- ItemEconomic efficiency and productivity of maize farmers in Ghana(KNUST, 2016-05) Wongnaa, Camillus AbawieraIn spite of the economic importance of maize, its productivity is still low in Ghana. This study examined the economic efficiency and productivity of maize farmers to shed light on the causes of low productivity of maize in Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to collect cross-sectional data from 576 maize farmers in eight districts in four Agro ecological zones of Ghana. Multinomial logit model and the stochastic frontier production function were the methods of analyses adopted in addition to descriptive statistics. The study revealed that an increase in educational level, credit, extension contact, experience, price of maize, group membership and ready market would increase use of maize productivity enhancing technologies. Also, fertilizer, pesticides, manure, herbicide, seed and land inputs were found to be positively related to maize output. With technical efficiency scores of 61.2%, 70.2%, 49.9% and 66% for maize farmers in the Northern Savannah, transitional, forest and Coastal Savannah zones respectively, it is most economical to produce maize in the transitional belt of Ghana. Generally, educational level, experience, income, extension contact, male gender, group membership, credit, household size, ready market as well as use of fertilizer, pesticides and improved seeds would increase the technical efficiency of maize farmers in Ghana. Whereas fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, manure and land were underutilized by farmers, capital was over utilized. The scale efficiency analysis revealed that the overall mean scale efficiencies were 85.7%, 90.9%, 88.6% and 85.5% for maize farmers in the Northern Savannah, transitional, forest and Coastal Savannah zones respectively. Generally, it can be concluded that an increase in educational level, experience, access to good roads, extension contact, household size as well as use of fertilizer and improved seeds would increase the scale efficiency of maize farmers in Ghana. Policies aimed at addressing the efficiency challenges of maize farmers in Ghana should be targeted more at improving technical efficiency.
- ItemBREEDING FOR TOLERANCE TO SALT STRESS IN RICE USING A NEW TOLERANCE DONOR, MADINA KOYO.(KNUST, 2019-06) AMOAH, NANA KOFI ABAKASalt stress is a major constraint that reduces productivity of many rice fields across the world. Susceptibility of the crop comes within the first few weeks of establishment and later during the reproductive stage. Many studies conducted to improve the adaptability of the crop to saline soils has focused on introgressing alleles from a few donor genetic background. To broaden the genetic base of tolerant alleles, a new salt stress donor cultivar, “Madina Koyo” was used in developing a set of introgression lines with a farmer preferred indica variety, „Sahel 317‟. To identify lines that are tolerant to the stress at the two most susceptible stages, F2 derived F3 lines (F2:3) and F3:4 lines were evaluated at the early seedling and reproductive stages respectively. To better understand the regions controlling tolerance in this new donor and to validate previously reported regions, QTL mapping was undertaken using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) analysis from Genotype by sequencing (GBS). Salt stress caused a drastic reduction of 72% in grain yield among the F2:3 progenies. Altogether, an average reduction of 63.4% was observed for all fitnessrelated traits among selected F3:4 progenies at the early seedling stage. A total of 45 progenies had better or comparable grain yield to the donor parent “Madina Koyo” and were adjudged to be tolerant at the reproductive stage. Subsequently, another 46 progenies, representing 5% of the evaluated progenies, recorded an average SES score 1-3 and were rated as tolerant to salt stress at the early seedling stage. Out of the combined 91 progenies, only one progeny, ARS1181-1-6-27, was observed to be tolerant to salt stress at both growth stages. Another four progenies (ARS1181-1-7-6, ARS1181-1-6-6, ARS1181-1-8-26 and ARS1181-1-10-1) combined tolerance at the seedling stage with better yield stability. These five promising progenies should be further evaluated with the aim of releasing as per se or be used as parents in future forward breeding efforts. A high-density genetic linkage map was constructed for the 12 rice chromosomes using 3698 SNP markers. Composite interval mapping identified 46 QTLs on 10 chromosomes (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) for SES, shoot length, shoot dry weight and root dry weight. No QTL was identified for root length. Thirty-three out of the 46 QTLs were shoot-related QTLs while five were root related. Breeders should, therefore, focus on shoot related traits when evaluating rice germplasm for salt tolerance at the seedling stage. None of the QTLs identified was mapped in the region of previously reported major effect QTL Saltol on chromosome 1, suggesting that Madina Koyo controls tolerance from a different region by a different QTL(s). Six out of the 46 (qSDW1.1, qSDW2, qSL1.1, qSL2.2, qSL2.3 and qSL2.4) were major effect QTLs with phenotypic contributions ranging from 11% - 99%. Comparison with literature suggests the novelty of these major effect QTLs. Fine mapping of these novel QTLs in a different genetic background is necessary to confirm their stability and use in breeding to enhance the level of tolerance through MAS for the pyramiding of different QTLs to one genetic background
- ItemASSESSMENT OF TONO AND VEA RESERVOIRS FOR SUSTAINABLE NILE TILAPIA (Oreochromis niloticus) CAGE AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN UPPER EAST REGION, GHANA(KNUST, 2019-06) ETORNYO AGBEKOThe use of man-made aquatic ecosystems such as reservoirs and dugouts originally built for water supply, irrigation and fish farming is an emerging trend in most developing countries. Most reservoirs are being assessed for their potential for cage fish culture as a result of the high demand of fish. Northern Ghana has a number of reservoirs and dugouts which were originally constructed to conserve water for irrigated farming particularly the Tono and Vea reservoirs, however they seem to be under-utilized. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of cage aquaculture on the reservoirs by assessment of the water quality, suitable zones, carrying capacity (CC) and development of aquaculture management areas (AMAs) within two major reservoirs in Upper East Region (UER) namely; Tono and Vea reservoirs. These reservoirs were monitored using linear stratified sampling technique and monthly sampling of eighteen water quality variables between 06:00 to 10:00 for fifteen months (February 2015 to April 2016). Three replicates of samples were obtained for each variable from each stratum of the reservoir. Water temperature, water depth, transparency, pH and conductivity were measured in-situ using combined portable meters. Water sampling and laboratory analysis were based on standard analytical methods for examination of water and waste-water. Temporal and spatial dynamics of the reservoirs were investigated using multivariate statistical methods to obtain three seasonality regimes from the water quality with total variance in both reservoirs < 88.5%. Water quality in both reservoirs could support Nile tilapia culture (temperature between 26.730 ⁰C, dissolved oxygen > 5 mg l-1, average water depth > 3 m but < 10 m, pH was slightly acidic to slightly alkaline). Geographical information system-based spatial multi-criteria analysis results indicate that 3.85 km2 (39.05% suitability) and 2.15 km2 (68.40% suitability) of reservoir area were suitable for the development of cage aquaculture in Tono and Vea reservoirs, respectively. Estimates of carrying capacity i.e. production, physical, ecological, and social were integrated to obtain the final aquaculture CC of 719.40 m-3 and 65.55 m-3 as production volume for Tono and Vea reservoirs, respectively. Results for trophic level index (TLI) indicate that Tono reservoir has very high nutrient enriched waters (TLI: 5.23; super trophic), whiles Vea reservoir has high nutrient enriched waters (TLI: 4.32; eutrophic). Based on the trophic status, percentage allocation of aquaculture CC and other secondary data; the three AMAs in Tono reservoir and the five AMAs in Vea reservoir could produce 107.91 and 9.83 metric tonnes of cultured Nile tilapia per production cycle respectively. The study postulate that the ecosystem approach to aquaculture could be pragmatic stepwise approach that has salient potential to deal with environmental, economic and social issues associated with cage culture in Tono and Vea reservoirs. Best management practices (BMPs), physical and biosecurity measures are needed to minimise aquatic animal health risk. The use of CC based suitable zones and identification of individual AMAs are recommended as useful for decision-making by fisheries and aquaculture regulators, managers of reservoirs and other aquaculture policy-makers for sustainable cage aquaculture in the two reservoirs.