case study of lulongwe malawi

In addition to Intra-household resource allocations and internal dynamics of decision-making, gendered perceptions on household food security play a critical role in households’ nutritional status, especially in developing coun- tries. However, evidence on the role of gender-based perceptions on households’ food security and related implications on the households’ nutritional status is limited. This study examines the determinants of gender-disaggregated household food security perceptions among smallholder farming households. We used two panels of data from households in eastern and western Kenya and employ the House hold Food Insecurity Access Scale to measure perceptions of household food insecurity, and the random effects generalized ordered probit model to evaluate the determinants of security perceptions across gender. The results reveal that the factors that influence food security perceptions vary across gender. The education level of household head and the number of relatives were negatively associated with female perceptions of household food insecurity, whereas the household dependency ratio was positively associated with female perceptions of household food insecurity. In contrast, age and gender of household head were positively

Abstract

Monetary benefits are offered to consumers, employees and organizations to encourage behavior or actions which otherwise would not take place. The purpose of this study was to establish the perception of the sales executives on the influence of financial incentives on their performance at British American Insurance Company. Remunerative incentives (or financial incentives) are said to exist where an agent can expect some form of material reward especially money in exchange for acting in a particular way. The research design adopted was descriptive survey. The main population for this research was all the sales executives at British Insurance Company. The study adopted systematic sampling in which the researcher obtained the list of the population and then took a sample in which every 10th event was picked for the research; this resulted in 120 respondents being selected for the study. The study used primary data which was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study found out that the incentives influencing the performance of sales agents at britam were fringe benefits such as holidays with pay, pensions and time off, adequate pay to meet the requirements of life and bonuses for workers according to their post and which was consistent with their level of performance. The study found out that the medical scheme of the company, rewards offered to the employees and the existence of fairness and equity was not comparable with what the market offers and this will result in low performance of the employees and turnover. The study established that the sales agents of the company are faced by challenges emanating from poor pay as a result of difficulties faced on the job and lack of customers to purchase products. It was concluded that Commission salaried sales executive are motivated to work harder when there are financial and non financial incentives. It is recommended that, the organization should find a workable design of an incentive system which may be group or individual based.

Kenya, which has been traditionally near self-sufficiency in most food-staffs, faces the imminent danger that rapid population growth may overtake increases in food production capacity. In a situation where the international community and donor agencies have been aiding Kenya both in terms of research development and food-aid, there is the logical pressure to justify research budgets in the face of slow agricultural productivity increases. Wheat is one commodity whose productivity increase has not marched demand. This study analyses the returns to wheat research and the policy factors that may affect those returns. The study applies time series econometric analysis with receiit modifications of the Error correction models.

Award of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration

Abstract

Genetic characterization and assessment of signatures of selection in domestic animals adapted to local environments provide a large amount of knowledge and give a clear perspective on the population structure that assists in the decision-making of future breeding programs. This study aimed at characterizing the phenotypic and genetic diversity, the typology and production management, and carrying out a genome-wide assessment of signatures of selection on candidate genes of productivity traits (prolificacy, disease resistance and adaptability) in three Congolese indigenous goat populations (small goat, Kasai goat, and dwarf goat) across three agro-ecological zones (AEZs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The three AEZ regions: Kinshasa (in the stratified savannah plateau), South Kivu (in the high altitude volcanic mountains) and Tshopo (in the equatorial forest), were selected based on their accessibility and the socio-economic importance of goats. Using a structured questionnaire, information on production management, the economic benefit of keeping goats, and reproductive performance (focused on litter size) was collected from 202 farms from where phenotypic measurements were recorded for 320 adult females. From each of the 320 sample animals, five to ten (5-10) ml of total blood was collected for DNA analysis. Total genomic DNA (gDNA) was used for mtDNA d-loop region sequencing and genotyping carried out using the Goat 60K SNP chip panel. The results showed that the oldest animals were 3.34 ±1.48 years old found in South Kivu with 3.85±1.71 number of kidding. Based on the hierarchical clustering on principal components analysis, the studied goat populations were clustered into three clusters well distinguished by double and triple kidding. Prolific goats were mostly represented by goats from South Kivu mostly found in cluster two (48.33%) and three (37.22%). 82.69% of goats from Tshopo were clustered into cluster one characterized by goats with low reproductive performances (less double and triple kidding frequencies). The Canonical Discriminate Analysis (CDA) revealed that the body measurements, particularly the body length were an important variable both to discriminate and to classify goats from the three geographical regions. The Mahalanobis‘s distances revealed that indigenous goats from Kinshasa and South Kivu were not genetically distant while the largest genetic distance was observed between goats from Kinshasa and Tshopo or South Kivu and Tshopo (F-stat, p< 0.001). No improvement techniques in feeding, disease control, and reproduction management were applied in goat breeding in DRC. However, goats were considered as a source of income and saving method in smallholder farmer‘s households. The adaptability of goat to the region, disease resistance, and prolificacy were the farmer-preferred traits in the selection of goats. The analysis of 339 mitochondrial DNA displacement loop (mtDNA d-loop) sequences with a total length of 1,169 base pairs (bp) revealed a total of 568 segregating sites, resulting in 192 haplotypes. Only 9 of the 192 haplotypes were shared between the Congolese goats and goats from Kenya, Ethiopia, Algeria (1 haplotype), Zimbabwe (1 haplotype), Pakistan (1 haplotype), Cameroon (3 haplotypes), and Mozambique (3 haplotypes). Average haplotype diversity (Hd), nucleotide diversity ( ), and average number of nucleotide differences (K) were 0.987, 0.015 and 14.74, respectively. The analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that 5.88 % of Congolese goat populations‘ variation was observed among the population and 94.12% within the population. A weak genetic differentiation was revealed between the three Congolese indigenous goat populations based on the population pairwise analysis (FST). Neighbor-joining (NJ) and Median Joining (MJ) analyses revealed both the three studied Congolese indigenous goat populations to belong to the haplogroup A with one maternal origin as revealed by the mismatch distribution analysis. Negative and significant (pvalue < 0.05) values for Fu‘s Fs (-20.418) and Tajima‘s (-2.189) tests showed that the three Congolese indigenous goat populations have expended in history. The Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) analyses indicated that the Congolese goats operated from the northern Africa before reach Central Africa, 354 generations in later times (~1,062years ago). Specific putative signatures of selection were identified in the three Congolese indigenous goat populations using the cross-population expended haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH) statistical method applied across Congolese and other (Cameroon and Keffa in Ethiopia) goat populations. Positive genomic regions were enriched and annotated using the Capra hircus Genome Data Viewer Assembly ARS1 (GCF_001704415.1) and the web-based tool, Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) software, respectively. Ten out of forty three positive genomic regions were enriched with genes involved in signalling pathways associated directly or indirectly with body size (DEPTOR, MAGEL2), behaviour and nervous systems (DCDC2, PANK3, ITSN1, COL6A3, ENPP2), prolificacy (CMK4), disease control such as a decrease in salmonella proliferation (EIF3J) and hair colour measurement, hair measurement and hair colour (PADI2). The results of this study suggest a high phenotypic and genetic diversity in Congolese indigenous goat populations clustered into three clusters well distinguished by the reproductive performances (double and triple kidding). Adaptability in the region, disease resistance and prolificacy were the major farmer-preferred traits for selecting goats to raise. A weak genetic differentiation and a single maternal origin were observed for the studied goats that underwent an expansion in the history. Novel insights into the genetic and physiological architecture of goat‘s adaptation and reproduction were revealed by the gene ontology (GO) enrichment of the positive selection regions. However, similar to the relatively poor annotation of the caprine genome, information provided by the GO analysis is limited. Since most of these candidate genes have been previously reported to be under positive selection for several traits in other species; further research should be conducted on the candidate genes reported in this study to clarify their implication and association with the reported and unreported traits in goats in DRC. These results could have implications for managing improvement strategies and long-term conservation of Congolese indigenous goats.

Wetlands are areas on the surface of the earth that are either seasonally or permanently saturated with water or have soil moisture higher than the surrounding uplands. Wetlands attenuate peak flows, reduce sediment loads in surface water bodies, recharge ground water and are home to a wide range of biodiversity. Wetlands in Murang‟a County are under stress due to agricultural intensification and urbanization, which have resulted in the shrinkage of wetlands. This study aimed at evaluating the status of wetlands in Maragua watershed and their effect on stream flow and sediment yield. Landsat images and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were used to identify and map the wetland conditions in 1987, 1999 and 2018. Index-based classification method was adopted for wetland identification using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) indices and the ERDAS Imagine software. Interviews, a focus group discussion, a stakeholder workshop, storytelling events and observation were used to gather data on community‟s perceptions of wetlands and the challenges facing wetland conservation. Stream flow data for Githanja catchment was generated using the Australian Water Balance Model (AWBM), a hydrological model with Karurumo catchment as the donor catchment while the GeoWEPP model was used to determine the effect of land use in wetland on stream flow and sediment yield in Githanja catchment. Three modeling scenarios were done in the study: (i) Cultivated wetlands on 9.5% of the catchment area (CULT9.5%); (ii) Wetlands with tall grass on 9.5% of the catchment area (GRASS9.5%); and (iii) Wetlands with tall grass with on 16.6% of the catchment area (GRASS16.6%). AWBM simulated stream flow data and TSS data from WRA was used to calibrate and validate GeoWEPP model. Between 1987 and 2018, the area under wetlands decreased by 58% from an area of 24.1 ha. Wetland cultivation, planting of exotic tree species and fodder crops were the main human activities taking place within the wetlands. However, residents were not aware of the adverse effects their activities have on wetlands. Also, conflict in existing land ownership policies and wetland regulations and inadequate community awareness creation were the main impediments against wetland conservation. The simulation study showed the annual average runoff in Githanja catchment for CULT9.5% was 190,121m3 /year while the annual average runoff for GRASS9.5% was 161,886m3 /year which worked out to about 15% reduction in runoff. For 16.6%GRASS, the annual average runoff 134,817 m3 /year which was 29% reduction compared to CULT9.5%. Furthermore, the average annual sediment yield in Githanja catchment for CULT9.5% 2,201Tonnes/ha/year while for GRASS9.5% it was 1,423Tonnes/ha/year, which works out to about 35% less sediment yield. For the 16.6%GRASS average annual sediment yield was 1,103Tonnes/ha/year which is about 50% the sediment yield under CULT9.5%. Transforming wetlands from cultivated land units to conserved grassland attenuates peak flows and reduces sediment yield. Finally, reclaiming lost wetlands will further reduce sediment yield and runoff.

The Award of Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Linguistics